MP welcomes legislation to tackle water pollution

Tougher powers which could see water company bosses jailed if they do not tackle pollution have been welcomed by Blackpool South MP Chris Webb.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to Parliament and will give regulators stronger tools to take enforcement action with.

Mr Webb has been campaigning for change since his election last May, highlighting the impact of sewage discharges on the quality of bathing waters in Blackpool.

He said: “Blackpool’s beaches should be a huge source of pride for residents, who should be able to reap all the benefits of our greatest natural asset. Their pollution not only threatens our health but our wellbeing and sense of local pride.”

Mr Webb says pollution warnings were issued across Blackpool’s beaches for 59 days last year and during September “there wasn’t a single safe day. ” This meant for almost 40 per cent of Blackpool’s summer season,the sea was “unsafe for locals and visitors to enjoy.”

United Utilities says over the next five years it will spend more than £13bn in the North West to improve the quality of water in rivers and seas and tackle leakage.

A spokesperson said: “Thanks to recent schemes like the Anchorsholme Park storage tank and the new pumping station and long sea outfall, the impact of storm water has been dramatically reduced along the coast.”

The new Water Bill will create tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations into incidents of pollution.

It will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances. Regulators will also be able to issue penalties more quickly and introduce independent monitoring.

Mr Webb said: “Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets 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 forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. 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.”

A United Utilities spokesperson said: “The North West coastline has seen billions of pounds of investment over the last 30 years, and we are now able to store and treat more wastewater than ever before.”

The company said it is working with partners “to improve our rivers and coasts and to tackle all factors that can affect water quality.”

The spokesperson added: “We are now able to progress with what will be the largest investment in water and wastewater infrastructure in the North West for over 100 years.

“This historic investment will deliver the step change that customers have told us they want to see and allow us to safeguard drinking water supplies, help reduce leakage and sewer flooding and protect and enhance more than 500km of rivers and bathing waters across the North West region.”

Plans for Lancashire include

• Improving the Haweswater aqueduct which carries water from Cumbria and into Lancashire, safeguarding supplies for future generations, alongside investment at treatment works to improve the quality of drinking water
• Reducing spills from 103 storm overflows to improve water quality along the rivers Ribble, Lune and Wyre
• Continuing to work with partners such as the Fylde Hub, Turning Tides, Ribble Rivers Trust, Wyre Natural Flood Management, RSPB and many more Lancashire stakeholders to improve rivers and coasts
• Helping more than 66,000 vulnerable customers with additional needs through the Priority Services scheme.

Mr Webb has also criticised United Utilities for its record on transparency in handling public requests for environmental information. The company said it was making information more accessible and welcomed “clarifications made by the Information Commissioner’s Office”.