Amidst the fallout from the mishandled Paterson affair, I am delighted that this week Parliament voted for measures to drive down the amount of untreated sewage in our waterways.
A few weeks ago, claims circulated on social media suggesting that MPs had voted to allow water companies to continue discharging sewage into our rivers. That was not true.
The original proposals authored by Lord Wellington in the House of Lords contained no plans for how the clean-up measures could be delivered. There was no proper enforcement mechanism. They didn’t even allow the regulator Ofwat to fine, direct or otherwise force companies to comply with this duty. All are crucial if we are to deliver the improvements we all want.
Those defects have now been remedied, and the new measures will be far more effective as a result. They are also supported by Lord Wellington.
The legislation creates a legal duty on water companies with a workable enforcement mechanism. It also empowers Ofwat to issue enforcement notices, fines and a requirement for water companies to publish near real time information on the operation of storm overflows
There are two places in the Cheltenham constituency where there were storm overflows into the river Chelt in 2020, one close to Dowdeswell Reservoir and the other in Arle.
I have written to Severn Trent, calling on them to publish their local plan to end discharges. They need to show much greater urgency.
The truth is that, however disgusting, storm overflows are not unique to England. They take place across Europe (an estimated 650,000 across Europe, with 15,000 in England).
Thanks to this legislation in the Environment Bill, more can be done to force the water companies to clean up our waterways.
With your help we can keep the pressure up on this. Expect to hear more in the coming days!
[Column published in the Gloucestershire Echo]