Councillor Calls For Water Company To Compensate Brighton & Hove Residents For Sewage Discharges

A councillor is calling for compensation from Southern Water after the company was fined for discharging raw sewage into the sea.

Green councillor Pete West is asking fellow councillors to support his call to ask the water company to fund Brighton and Hove’s public toilets or pay equivalent compensation.

Councillor West plans to propose a motion at a town hall meeting on Thursday (20 July) asking councillors to note residents’ outrage that raw sewage had been dumped in the sea.

He wants every party standing at the next general election to commit to bringing water companies into public ownership.

Brighton and Hove City Council has published the text of Councillor West’s motion. It said:

“Residents are rightly concerned that the city’s sea, waterways and water supplies are unsafe to use and damaging to natural habitats and the environment.

“Southern Water was privatised in 1989 which subjects vital supplies of water to market pressures in order to generate profit for shareholders.

“The combination of defunding, deregulation and privatisation is obliterating services across our country and allowing water companies to dump sewage with relative impunity.

“Public ownership of water is an essential step to fix this systemic problem as it would ensure that water companies’ purpose is to deliver clean water to residents rather than profits to shareholders.

“Following the work of campaign groups such as Surfers Against Sewage and the previous administration, the city needs accountability and compensation from Southern Water.”

In 2021, Southern Water was fined £90 million for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges from 17 sites in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex from 2010 to 2015.

The offences came to light as part of the Environment Agency’s largest-ever criminal investigation which started after shellfish were found to be contaminated with e.coli.

But Southern Water said that there had been no sewage discharges near Brighton and Hove, in part thanks to a seven-mile (11km) storm drain – Europe’s largest – and the Peacehaven water treatment works.

Outfalls at Rottingdean and Friars Bay, in Peacehaven, are both more than a mile – or 1,700 metres – out to sea.

Southern Water said:

“There were no releases from Southern Water’s storm overflows which would have an impact on Brighton’s bathing waters last year.

“Our evidence shows the decline in sea water quality score tracks to a single bad sample over the bank holiday weekend in August 2022 when water quality was affected by very high rates of seagull e.coli.

“A 59 per cent increase in visitors to Brighton beach in 2022 has put huge pressure on an area already used to large crowds on hot days.

“Finding ways to keep Brighton’s stunning seafront beautiful and safe requires partnership work to ensure we remain resilient to cope with the many visitors who are so important to Brighton’s economy.”

An algae bloom in Hove and cooling water from Shoreham Power Station have also been mistaken for sewage.

Councillor West’s motion is due to be debated at a meeting of the full council which is due to start at 4.30pm today (July 20) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.