Some 200 people joined a march along Eastbourne seafront over May Bank Holiday weekend to protest against the use by Southern Water of storm overflows.
The protesters walked from near the Wish Tower to the beach at the Langham Hotel on Sunday, waving placards and chanting: “Stop the sewage, save our seas!”
The organisers then handed out three joke ‘poo awards’ to a Cabinet minister, to Southern Water and to its former chief executive, who retired four months ago.
The practice of using storm overflows, supposedly only during heavy rainfall, led to Southern Water being fined £90 million in July 2021 after admitting thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Sussex, Kent and Hampshire.
The beach at Eastbourne, which was ‘excellent’ according to the Environment Agency in 2017, has been downgraded to a one-star rating (out of four). Our recent detailed look at the issue can be read here.
Retired firefighter Neil Sinclair (above) cycled from his home in Pevensey Bay to take part in the protest. He enjoys canoeing and paddle boarding in the bay.
“The whole principle is that a utility company should provide a service and not pander to its shareholders,” he said, walking along the top promenade with protesters.
“I find it hard enough swimming, but you don’t want to have to swim with your mouth closed too.”
Hairdressing salon owner Denise Jeffreys (above) had paddle-boarded to the beach near the Langham Hotel from the pier. She lives near the seafront and goes out on her board most days in the summer.
“Although we are on boards, we do fall in sometimes. This problem does put people off, especially those with children. It should not be like that.”
Josh Babarinde, who has announced he is standing down as an Eastbourne borough councillor, told the crowd on the beach: “We are calling for a ban on water company bonuses – these companies should not be rewarded for failure.”
The Liberal Democrat parliamantary candidate added: “This type of industry should be a service so they should be serving us rather than their own pockets.”
Channel swimmer Holly Manktelow, a member of Eastbourne Sea Swimmers and protest organiser, told cheering protesters: “The sea is our constant companion. We have breaches taking place, we don’t even need rainfall to happen.”
The group campaigns vociferously for cleaner seas and an end to ‘sewage dumping’ off the coast.
The latest Environment Agency figures published in March showed Southern Water released a total of 16,688 spills across 2022, an average of 45 a day. The total for England was 301,000 spills.
Chris Brooks (above), founder of the sea swimming group, told the Eastbourne Reporter: “There is a fantastic vibe here today. There’s a cross-section of people here from youngsters through to people in their 80s.
“It’s because of the sea that people come to live here, come for their holiday and for day trips so it needs to be protected.”
She handed out joke ‘poo’ awards for “outstanding contribution to the amount of sewage currently in our seas”.
Ms Brooks, who was wearing a velvet poo-shaped hat, said one was for Environment Secretary Therese Coffey, saying it was the “sticking plaster award” for belated services in Government.
A few days ago, Ms Coffey announced legally binding targets for companies to cut sewage discharges. Opposition parties said it was too little, too late and claimed it was a pre-election gimmick. Local elections are taking place in Eastbourne and other parts of England on Thursday, May 4.
Another was for “financial services” to Southern Water, which had an operating profit for 2021/22 of £138.8 million, from which the £90 million fine was paid.
The third ‘award’ was to the company’s former chief executive officer Ian McAuley, who retired in December 2022, for “services to Australian banking”.
His remuneration package comprised £435,000 basic salary, a £435,000 bonus and a further £435,000 for securing a £500 million investment from Macquarie Investment Bank of Australia, which took a majority stake in Southern Water in August 2021. This was a total of £1.323 million, according to page 186 of Southern Water’s annual report.
In early April, sea swimmers met Eastbourne Conservative MP Caroline Ansell and Dr Toby Willison, Southern Water’s director of environment and corporate affairs, to press for answers about when crucial sewage system infrastructure would be updated.
Southern Water agreed to investigate if pipes feeding into an outlet near the Wish Tower had been wrongly connected or need repair – and said they hoped to rectify any faults this summer.
The swimmers were told the emphasis was on reducing the flow into drains by use of measures such as water butts and wetland areas when they asked about updating the Victorian infrastructure.
Ms Brooks said at the time that the answer became a little vague in her opinion: “Nobody said ‘we’re going to take up pipes and put new ones in’,” she said.
A Southern Water spokesperson said in a statement to Eastbourne Reporter tonight: “We understand the concerns of customers regarding water quality at Eastbourne. Earlier this month, we swam with local swimmers and we met with local MP Caroline Ansell on Friday.
“We acknowledge that bathing water quality at Eastbourne is not at the standard we, our partners or our customers would like, and we are investigating the reasons behind this.
“Although we are a key custodian of our coastal beaches, there are many partners responsible and many factors that affect water quality.
“We are investigating the contribution of misconnections – where wastewater pipes have been incorrectly connected to surface water drains – and are spending around £3 million at Eastbourne’s wastewater treatment works to improve capacity and performance.
“We are also reducing the use of storm overflows through innovative nature based solutions to slow the flow of surface water into our sewers.”
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