Sewage at Camber, water quality at Winchelsea Beach, and disruption and poor compensation in Rye were discussed at Westminster on Monday, December 16.
Politicians in the House of Commons heard Hastings and Rye MP Helena Dollimore describe the “devastating impact that Southern Water has unleashed” on the local area during a debate on new legislation on the water industry.
Banning water bosses bonuses, increasing regulation and monitoring, severe fines for sewage leaks, and criminal charges for persistent offenders form part of the Water (special measures) Bill which had its second reading this week.
Helena Dollimore is also the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. She told MPs: “From Camber Sands to Old Roar Gill, sewage has poured on to our beaches and beauty spots. Our way of life as a seaside community has been compromised. Our appeal as a tourist destination has been tarnished and livelihoods have been ruined. Many people have got sick from swimming in the sea, or caught ear or eye infections. People have ended up in hospital with sickness, and one constituent even attributes her deafness in one ear to an infection that she caught swimming in the sea.”
The recent flooding in Hastings was also mentioned, as were sewage problems inland. “Another constituent in Winchelsea beach told me that he cannot grow vegetables because for the last decade his back garden has been regularly flooded with sewage.”
The Bill also includes measures to increase compensation for lost water supplies. “The taps have run dry twice in recent memory. In September 2023, 10,000 residents of Rye were left without water for up to nine days. In May this year, in Hastings, 30,000 people were left without water for five days. It caused huge disruption and had a major impact on local businesses. It has to stop. The Conservatives had 14 years to update the compensation guidelines for such incidents, and failed to act.”
Environment Secretary Steve Reed described the proposals as a clean-up of the water industry and said he had discussed the problems with local people. “I have spoken to residents in Hastings and Rye who were rightly furious at the inadequate information, lack of alternative supply and little to no compensation when yet another outage happened in their locality.”
Image Credits: Kt Bruce , Anthony Kimber , KT Bruce .
It’s about time! We finally have an MP who actually cares about our local environment. It’s shameful how Southern Water have treated this area.
The current compensation system is deeply flawed and heavily in favour of Southern Water. While assuring customers compensation for breaks in supply and low pressure are automatic, the reality is Southern Water put sole responsibility on the customer to check and pursue compensation. If customers do not do this within Southern Waters stipulated timescale, Southern Water will not compensate them.
Towards the end of 2023 Southern Water customers were unable to login to and check their online accounts for over a week because Southern Waters computer systems were woefully inadequate.
Interestingly, according to Southern Waters terms and conditions, residential customers in Rye who were without water supply for 9 days in 2023 should have received over £500 in compensation. I would love to know how many residents were awarded anything close to this. Meanwhile the chief executive of Southern Water was given a £183,600 bonus in 2024.
They are a total law unto themselves,ful stop