Following last week’s vote on the Environment Bill and a fair amount of misleading information online, some of you have been in touch expressing your concerns about storm discharges - concerns that I share.
This has been an issue I have been very focused on since I was elected in 2017 when I first discovered the gruesome details of how we manage our water system, including how permits for sewerage discharges are managed by the Environment Agency.
I know some people were confused when I voted to remove section 141A of Amendment 45, tabled by the Duke of Wellington in the Lords. I fully support its ambition and the principle to place a new duty on sewage companies in England and Wales to demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.
However, there were many concerns with this amendment, not least that to eliminate storm overflows we have to transform a system that has operated since the Victorian Era, the preliminary low-end cost estimate is £150 billion. For context, that’s more than the entire schools, policing and defence budgets put together. The higher-end estimates are significantly more than we have spent during the pandemic. Plus, if we banned sewage discharge without a plan the only alternative would be for the overloaded system to back up onto our streets and parks and into some of our homes.
Fortunately, my colleagues at Defra have been listening to the concerns from communities like ours and have agreed to introduce their own amendment that will achieve a similar outcome as the Duke’s, whilst ensuring its implementation is both compatible with existing legislation, such as the Water Industry Act 1991, and that the ambitions of the legislation are met in a manageable and realistic timeframe.
This will build on measures we passed last week, including placing a duty on the Government to publish a plan by 1 September 2022 to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows and publish a report on the ‘mechanics’ of eliminating overflows entirely. The Bill also includes provisions to improve transparency, monitoring, and a legal requirement to formulate management plans.
Since I was elected in 2017 I have pushed for better outcomes locally including significant investment in our villages and treatment works, and greater inter-agency working. Progress is being made. Today, every key agency involved with monitoring, enforcement, operations, environmental management, planning, governance and policy have now come together to improve water quality. Further, in the Chichester constituency alone, recent investments in wastewater treatment works total over £81 million.
Beyond this, I’ve co-founded a forum of MPs that covers the Solent Region, we are collectively holding Southern Water’s feet to the fire and ensuring the Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, is aware of the issues we face locally - just last week she spoke about our efforts in Parliament.
I will continue to do whatever I can to support efforts to end discharges and improve our water quality. Legislation has a key role to play in solving the problem, but it must be carefully thought through to ensure there are no unpleasant unintended consequences.