The Labour Government has introduced major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas – the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.
Under the Conservatives multiple sites across Isle of Wight were contaminated. In 2023, a total of 17,340 hours of sewage spilt onto our coastline, including 5000 hours in Cowes alone.
Powers for tougher and faster action
The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to Parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on Southern Water damaging the environment and failing their customers.
The Bill delivers on Labour’s manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law-breaking water executives who fail to co-operate, or obstruct investigations.
Ban on bonuses if standards not met
The new legislation will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances.
Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish realtime data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
Quigley: Water executives will no longer line their own pockets with inflated bonuses whilst pumping out this filth
Richard Quigley MP for Isle of Wight West said,
“After 14 years of Conservative failure, raw toxic sewage continues to be pumped into the Solent, polluting many of the Isle of Wight’s most popular beaches. In 2023, the Island had the third most polluted river in the UK, with the Cowes/Gurnard area ranked as the seventh most polluted bathing area in England and Wales. This is an unacceptable situation for a community that relies on clean waters for tourism, recreation, and local livelihoods.
“That is why the Labour government has introduced immediate action to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses.
“Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets with inflated bonuses whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.
“This Bill is a major step towards fixing our broken water system. And as an Island MP, I thoroughly welcome these changes. The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”
News shared by the office of Richard Quigley MP. Ed
