Action on sewage discharges into rivers and seas are a start, but more needs to be done, says Martin Vickers MP

Cleethorpes has one of the best sandy beaches in the country and attracts families, both local and from far afield. In particular it is a magnet for those in the South Yorkshire region.      

As a young lad I recall many happy hours on the beach and occasionally taking a dip in what is the Humber Estuary. Thankfully its waters are now, despite the current controversy, much cleaner. Back in the day the sewage discharges could be viewed from the promenade.

It goes without saying that I want to see more done to prevent the sewage discharges and will be pressing the new DEFRA Secretary Ranil Jayawardena, as I did his predecessor George Eustace, for more resources so that the situation can be improved as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately there is a great deal of misinformation about how we deal with sewage.  Heavy storms have led to some of the recent problems and in these circumstances without the storm overflow discharges into rivers and the sea the system would back-up with the result that we could have sewage in the streets and in our homes.

Many interest groups are, understandably, lobbying MPs; that’s fair enough but many of the Government’s political opponents are misrepresenting the facts.     

The “misinformation” I refer to surrounds the House of Lords amendment proposed by the Duke of Wellington. What those who seek to criticise the Government, by deliberately misrepresenting the facts, do not make clear is that the Duke and his supporters negotiated a further amendment which was agreed, passed and incorporated into what is now the Environment Act.

It is, of course, complete nonsense to suggest that had the Duke’samendment been passed there would be no sewage discharges at Cleethorpes or anywhere else. What is required is a major infrastructure programme costing billions of pounds and that will take many years to deliver. A massive programme of works has already been announced. Could more done? Possibly so, a point I made to the minister on what was his last Commons appearance as Secretary of State.

I have met with my local water company Anglian Water and will be visiting their treatment works again in the near future and will continue to press them and the new ministerial team to ensure works to improve the local issues is carried out as soon as is practical. 

As the then Secretary of State told the House on 6th September we know far more about the levels of discharges because monitoring has increased. In 2016, only 5% of storm overflows were monitored. Following Government action almost 90% are now monitored, and by next year 100% of all storm overflows will be required to have monitors fitted. This new information has allowed regulators to take action against water companies. The Environment Agency and Ofwat have launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water companies ever, at more than 2,200 treatment works, following the improvements that we have made to monitoring data. That follows 54 prosecutions against water companies since 2015, securing fines of nearly £140 million.

The day before the minister’s statement his Department published the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. The plan outlines targets and levels of investment. It’s good news as far as it goes but the new ministerial team will have be under pressure from me and other colleagues to do more.  

Martin Vickers

Member of Parliament for the Cleethorpes Constituency

Martin Vickers has been the MP for the Cleethorpes constituency since 2010 before which he was the constituency agent in the neighbouring seat of Gainsborough. He served as a local councillor for 26 years.

His home town of Cleethorpes is an East Coast resort heavily reliant on tourism though the constituency, which stretches north through the UK’s largest port at Immingham and onwards through a series of villages to Barton-upon-Humber situated at the southern end of the iconic Humber Bridge is predominantly industrial and includes two oil refineries, petro-chemical plants, and is a major logistics hub. Immingham and the other Humber ports have been designated as freeports.