MPs from across Sussex, including Nusrat Ghani MP for Wealden, have written to the Chief Executives of Southern Water and the Environment Agency demanding waterways and coast ‘are respected and protected.’
In the letter, the MPs state “Once again, the rivers and coastline across Sussex are being blighted by the discharge of sewage”.
The MPs are now seeking an urgent meeting in Parliament with both organisations.
Last year Southern Water was fined £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex.
Among their duties the Environment Agency is responsible for regulating water quality. Last year the Chair of the Agency wrote to the Government saying cutbacks in funding was affecting the Agency’s ability to carryout vital work on river pollution and flood risk.
Click to download a copy of the letter in full: Letter from Sussex MPs to Southern Water and Environment Agency.
A bit rich of a Tory MP to imply criticism of the Environment Agency when it was a government of the same stripe that cut its funding by £17million in 2015, leaving it underfunded and understaffed ever since. They do their best. It’s not them who let sewage flow into our waterways.