In his weekly press article (see below) Simon Jupp says he wants to see action after he claims the Government has introduced the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills.

By crackdown he means the 2022 plan described by the Rivers Trust as ”Too little too late”:

“ Far from revolutionising the sewer system, as the plan claims, this plan aims to claw its way back to what should have already been ‘business as usual’ by 2050 – with sewer overflows operating only during exceptional rainfall events by that time. This should be the current situation, and yet we are living with 2.6 million hours of overspills in England.”

[Remember In October 2021 Simon Jupp voted against the Lords  amendment designed to stop private water companies from dumping raw sewage into the UK’s waterways.]

Simon also says he firmly believes that long-overdue water company investment should not disproportionately affect bills. 

[ Remember In March this year Simon said:…”Of course, in a perfect world, we would stop sewage spills completely and immediately. Sadly, that is virtually impossible in the short term; because of the pressure on our water infrastructure, we would risk the collapse of the entire water network, and the eye-watering costs involved mean we would need not just a magic money tree, but a whole forest.” ]

Simon refers to the government multi-million-pound plans to reduce spills from Sidmouth and Tipton St John’s sewage system and reduce nutrient pollution from the Axminster-Kilmington water treatment site. These are the local “oven ready” schemes in the Ofwat/Defra “accelerated infrastructure delivery project for English Water companies”. Owl has already discussed the lack of clarity of who foots the bills under the heading: This raises the $64,000 question, who is paying for this: SWW; the consumer or the Tax Payer? 

Is Simon “on a journey”? [More to the point where might it end?] – Owl

‘We all want action taken now to clean up rivers and seas’

Simon Jupp www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The water industry has finally apologised for not acting quickly enough on sewage spills, pledging an additional £10 billion to clean up their act.

An apology and more investment is welcome. But as many in East Devon have been heading outside to enjoy the warm weather, we all want to see action taken right now to clean up our rivers and sea.

Back in February, I led a debate in Parliament on the performance of South West Water. I live close to the sea in Sidmouth and have been relentlessly campaigning for investment in our water infrastructure.

Recently, I was pleased to see the government unveil multi-million-pound plans to reduce spills from Sidmouth and Tipton St John’s sewage system and reduce nutrient pollution from the Axminster-Kilmington water treatment site. At the request of the government and regulator Ofwat, South West Water is now spending their money on these projects.

I also want to see action in Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. In Exmouth, South West Water say they are working to improve Maer Road and Phear Park pumping stations’ storm overflows performance. In Budleigh Salterton, South West Water say they are working to clean the 7km sewer pipe from Lime Kilns pumping station to Maer Lane sewage treatment works. I’m monitoring their progress closely.

I firmly believe that long-overdue water company investment should not disproportionately affect bills. Water companies simply cannot spend money to clean up their mess, expect customers – you and I – to pay for it by hiking up bills, and continue to pay hefty bonuses.

This Conservative government has brought in the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills through the Environment Act and Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. I recently met with the Environment Agency in Exeter to discuss South West Water’s performance.

I’m also sitting down with South West Water bosses to scrutinise their latest full year results after they revealed shareholders are going to receive 10.9% increases in their payouts. It’s completely perverse to reward failure.

I won’t stop my calls for real change until South West Water put customers and our environment first.