'Enough has to be enough': Gosport MP lambasts water companies for sewage discharges calling for harsher fines

Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate, which considered sewage discharges into the environment, Dame Caroline Dinenage said more must be done to hold utility companies to account.

Speaking at the packed debate she said: ‘The ecology of the Solent is vital to its health and sustainability, and it is all being threatened by sewage pollution.

‘In Stokes Bay, Lee-on-the-Solent and Hill Head we have avid swimmers and lovers of water sport all year round and not just in the summer.

‘I know that storm overflows are a Victorian sewage system design feature, and I know that achieving targets will require large and complex infrastructure projects, but for decades water companies have made staggering profits, and some have paid eye-watering fines, while not sufficiently investing in this infrastructure.

‘Enough has to be enough.’

The motion was brought forward by Huw Merriman, Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle.

Several pieces of legislation were evaluated by politicians, including the government’s storm overflow discharge reduction plan.

Environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena announced that proposals to raise the maximum fine for water companies that pollute the environment would be brought forward.

Penalties would raise from the current level of £250,000 to £250m.

This is to encourage water companies to invest in infrastructure.

Souther Water were fined £90m last year for pumping untreated sewage into the Solent and elsewhere.

Ms Dinenage also called for targets in storm overflow reductions, set out in the government, to be brought forward.

Currently, water companies have until 2035 to improve 75 per cent of storm overflows discharging into high priority nature sites.

She added: ‘We know several targets have been set with regard to storm overflow reductions, and I welcome these new measures, but I must express my frustrations with the lack of urgency it implies.

SEE ALSO: Colourful Southsea 'protestival' mercilessly mocks Southern Water over sewage pollution

‘The timescales are insufficiently ambitious.

‘In Gosport, we regularly experience sewage outflows around local beaches and they do not always coincide with heavy rainfall.’

Ms Dinenage also championed the idea of wanting the Environment Agency to check water quality all year round.

Currently, they are only analysed between May and September.

Protestors from Stop the Sewage: Southsea gathered last Saturday to put pressure on Southern Water over sewage discharges.