Agenda item

To consider the Member Motion regarding the discharge of raw sewage into rivers.

Councillor Sell spoke to his motion regarding the discharge of raw sewage in Uttlesford’s rivers and waterways. He said a similar motion had been carried at East Hertfordshire District Council and he also recognised the good work on the issue from Councillors Pavitt and Emanuel and former Councillor Isham. He said the state of the sewage system in this country was indicative of crumbling infrastructure, a symptom of the privatisation of the water companies that prioritised profit over modernisation and the natural environment. He said 75% of rivers were polluted and the Environment Agency had reported that there had been 300,000 spills in the UK since 2022. In terms of Uttlesford, “storm overflows” had been conducted 321 times in 2022, although he said the figures released may not present an accurate reflection of “storm overflow” incidents. He said investment in the system was required. He asked members to support the motion.

Councillor Dean seconded the motion and said this was relevant to the emerging Local Plan process. He said policies 34 (contamination) and 35 (protection and enhancement) already covered this subject and the Council was “plugged in” to the issue.

Councillor Gooding cited the adage that “plumbers did more for health in Victorian England than any other profession” and this legacy needed to be upgraded. However, he said upgrading the infrastructure was not straight forward and would cost billions of pounds, and he noted that while Anglian Water had made a profit of £185 million, this was a “drop in the ocean” compared to the investment required. He said it would be unfortunate if the taxpayer had to bail out the water companies. 

Councillor Coote supported the motion and said the poor state of infrastructure was due to the privatisation of state industries and the water companies needed to put the money back into the system to ensure the system was fit for purpose. He said investment should be backdated and it was estimated that water companies would need to payback 18% of profits in order to cover the lack of investment in the past 30 years.

Councillor Pavitt said the water companies had been “given away” when privatised. He said this was a useful motion which reinforced previous work on the issue. He said the motion did not identify the invisible elements that made up a healthy waterway, such as nutrients. Furthermore, when water companies pledged to upgrade their systems, they were talking in capacity terms, not upgrading the technology to ensure pollutants and microplastics were extracted from the water. Members would need to be mindful of this when considering Local Plan proposals in future. He asked the Chief Executive to note in his letter that there was a need to control what was recycled into rivers, not just what was dumped into them.

Councillor Emanuel said the UK was the only country on the planet that had privatised its water companies. She said there had been great news in the River Camb in Newport as otters had been reintroduced and trout had begun to lay their eggs. However, effluent was being discharged into the river, harming the prospects of these creatures, and constant monitoring was required. She said she had an issue with point 4 of the motion and asked the Chief Executive to include reference in his letter to the Prime Minister regarding the need for constant monitoring of sewage discharge.

Councillor Lees said profit should not be the priority of water companies and she referenced a recent summit in parliament whereby Anglian Water made commitments to invest in water infrastructure. She asked whether the Chief Executive could incorporate member comments into the letter to Government, such as the importance of monitoring rivers and sewage works to ensure compliance.

The Chair confirmed that this could be done.

Councillor Moran said he agreed with the sentiment that “what gets measured, gets done” in terms of monitoring the health of the district’s rivers. He said otters had also returned to the River Bourne in the parish of Ashdon.

Councillor Sell said he was delighted to hear that wildlife was returning to the district’s rivers. He asked the Portfolio Holder for Planning to monitor the capacity of sewage works in the district, particularly in light of emerging housing developments. He added that the Council had a role to play in improving the health of the area’s rivers and thanked members for their support.  

The Chair took the motion to a vote; it was approved unanimously.

RESOLVED to:

I.                 Note that despite repeated calls to put a stop to the dumping of raw sewage into our precious rivers and chalk streams, the latest annual assessment by the Environment Agency showed “totally unacceptable” performance on pollution for most of England’s water and sewage companies. Thames Water was given just 2 stars for performance for 2022, meaning that they require significant improvement.

II.               Call on the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for the Environment to strengthen the legislation on the discharging of raw sewage into our rivers by:

1) Tightening and clarifying the regulations and law on the circumstances in which discharge of sewage might be permitted.

2) Requiring prompt prosecution and fining of all offending companies.

3) Requiring the Environment Agency to audit the Water and sewerage companies regularly, every year, to ensure that they are reporting their operations accurately.

4) The Council also requests the Government to bring forward the date by which Water Companies are required to reduce their discharges by 50% -to bring it forward from 2048 to 2030. 5) This Council authorises the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for the Environment and to our Member of Parliament to make these four requests.

The meeting was closed at 8.10pm.