Correspondence from “The Lorax”

Dear Owl,

I note that Simon Jupp MP: “is a proud Devonian who wants to preserve where we live. I want to tackle the raw sewage issue and I voted for a plan to help get us there.”

I also note that a “Budleigh Correspondent” writes that: “Not only in Budleigh do we get the pollution from the river (farm discharges plus all the sewage discharges from upstream of the Otter) and the two brook outlets.

We had 90 discharges from Newton Poppleford turning up in our bay in 2020! 137 from Honiton!

No wonder our water quality prediction display has not worked all year.” (Advising people in real time against bathing when it rains allows Budleigh to claim an extra bathing water quality “Star”).

How does Simon propose to tackle this problem? Does the beautiful bay in Budleigh Salterton have to wait for his long-term solution? According to Luke Pollard, Shadow Environment Secretary, not one English river is in a healthy condition, there has been zero improvement since 2016. Light touch measures aren’t working.

If Simon is concerned about cost, there is a much quicker and “cost free” answer. Stop all new house building in Honiton and Newton Poppleford and indeed all the way up the Otter catchment until South West Water stops discharging their sewage from these settlements.