As Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey visits Eastbourne, we ask him about the sewage spill controversy and what he would do to address the issue
Sir Ed is a busy man this month – and has a pair of wellies in the car boot to cover all eventualities.
He is touring areas where his party hopes to make headway in local elections on May 4 and lay the foundations for winning seats at the next general election, less than two years away.
This week, Eastbourne was in his sights. The council is currently run by his party and it’s a Lib Dem parliamentary target seat.
He met dog walkers on the beach at Holywell to listen to voters’ concerns about sewage discharges. The storm overflow there is pictured above.
Sir Ed was joined by Josh Babarinde, a Lib Dem councillor in Eastbourne, who will be the party’s candidate at the next general election. Caroline Ansell, the sitting Conservative MP, has a majority of 4,331.
The issue of sewage dumping from storm overflows by water companies into rivers and the sea has become the focus of public outrage and widespread protests in recent months.
We examined the issue relating to Eastbourne in depth here last month and talked to sea swimmers earlier this week after they met Ms Ansell and a Southern Water executive.
Sir Ed was scathing about the latest Government announcement that it intended to ban the use of plastic-based wet wipes. It is the third time the Conservatives have said they would do this – they pledged to do so in 2018 and 2021.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said this week the ban should come into force next year following a consultation.
Wet wipes flushed down toilets cause 93% of sewer blockages including so-called fatbergs and cost around £100m a year to clear, according to Water UK which represents the water industry.
Meanwhile, the Environment Agency’s latest figures, released last Friday, showed that water companies had released an average of 825 spills per day last year, down 19% on the previous year. But this was largely due to dry weather, not action by the water companies, the agency said.
“The lack of action from the Government, water companies and Ofwat is, frankly, a national scandal,” Sir Ed told the Eastbourne Reporter.
“Therese Coffey has talked about wet wipes – but this is the third time they have announced it. I don’t think people are going to be fooled by that.
“I’ve called for her to resign because she doesn’t seem to care and we need someone at the top who’s going to take some action. Sewage and the environment are the massive issues down here.”
Sir Ed said the priority should be investing to increase the capacity of storm overflows and stopping clean rainwater entering the sewage system.
“We need a comprehensive, system-wide strategy, which is going to involve changing regulations relating to water companies. We need sustainable urban drainage where clean rainwater does not get mixed up with the foul sewage water,” Sir Ed said.
“Water companies have been getting away with blue murder, making huge profits, with big bonuses for the bosses and, meanwhile, sewage is being dumped into our rivers and seas.
“We should scrap Ofwat and have a regulator with stronger powers, a sewage tax on the water companies, environment experts on the boards of water companies – we’ve got to be able to hold them to account more effectively.”
The water companies were privatised under Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1989. Macquarie Investment Bank of Australia invested £500 million to take a majority stake in Southern Water in August 2021.
Sir Ed does not believe the expense and delay of taking the companies back into public ownership is worthwhile.
“We want action now. There’s a danger that nationalisation doesn’t sort the problem: we think companies run for the public benefit along with tough regulations could have a big effect much more quickly.”
As he finished his tour of Gardners, a huge books, eBooks, music and film wholesaler which employs 900 people on Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, he reached into the car boot for his wellies.
Is it true he is on his second pair because he has spent so much time standing in rivers talking about the subject of sewage?
No, he laughed, but he held up the robust pair he had with him, ready for his next stop – helping with lambing at a farm near Lewes.
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