Eastbourne and Willingdon MP Caroline Ansell has warned parliament that debates about sewage discharge need to be ‘grounded in responsible, informed discussion’.
Speaking at Westminster Hall last week Caroline told MPs there was a clear need for action to ensure sewage did not get into seas and rivers.
“I represent the beautiful coastal community of Eastbourne, and tourism is our mainstay,” she explained.
“Genuinely, this last summer, local people said to me that they would not take their lives in their hands by swimming in the sea. However, they are stunned when I tell them of the reality around our situation—that our bathing water quality is actually good, touching on excellent, and that a live Government-funded and county council-delivered project called Blue Heart is going to get us to that excellent rating.
“People are equally surprised to learn, having looked at the ‘social media discharge’ on this subject, that 95% of the discharge is actually rainwater.
“They are also surprised to learn that, since 2017, Southern Water has redirected any dividends back into the business and has not paid out those profits.
“They are equally surprised when I say that, while the international water standard for “good” is set at 70, the UK sits at 74. That is better than Germany and France, and we are chasing the Scandinavian countries, which do these things rather better.
“It is really important for communities such as mine that this debate is grounded in responsible, informed discussion. I echo the sense of urgency. I asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in May whether the bathing season could be extended all year round, and I very much hope that that will be the case so that monitoring will likewise be all year round. Local sea swimming is growing in popularity and has been found to have many hugely positive health benefits. What a shame if people are wrongly scared off.”
Speaking afterwards Caroline added: “If we had the immediate ban on the use of storm overflows some have called for, what is flushed could instead come back up through pipes, flood homes and run-down streets instead in periods of heavy rainfall. I share everyone’s concerns about our seas but we need to make sure we are aware of all the facts and we do not scare people away from coming to Eastbourne and going into the water.
“I have been concerned about some comments designed for political gain suggesting Southern Water is ‘dumping’ all over Eastbourne. It has left some thinking it is unsafe to even put a toe in our seawater. All the available monitoring evidence shows otherwise.
“Our tourism industry is vital to our town. If we continue to inaccurately portray Eastbourne as dirty, we risk our tourism industry - it's as simple as that.
“Tackling storm overflows is a priority for this government. Huge work is being undertaken to stop it happening but as the debate showed, with up to 100,000 kilometres of pipes to potentially separate, it is a huge engineering task."
