A Devon council leader has said water company bosses should be “locked up” over sewage spills as beaches continue to close across the county. Jonathan Morris www.bbc.co.uk

[NB On Monday (8th June) the Environment Agency (EA) issued no-swim warnings at Teignmouth Town, Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth due to pollution risk based on weather factors and at Seaton due to a “pollution incident”. – Owl]

Devon County Council head Julian Brazil said residents had felt “incredibly let down” after repeated pollution incidents, with the council now exploring legal action against South West Water (SWW) over water quality concerns.

He said sewage discharges had forced beach closures but said “nothing seems to happen” despite talk of new laws, investment and lessons being learned.

SWW said it was investing £760m to tackle storm overflows and it had reduced spills by 17% in the last year, with spill duration down by 25%, and “the data shows the plan is working”.

Brazil said fines often hit customers instead of decision-makers, explaining that “as water bill-payers, we end up paying it”.

He argued tougher action should instead target executives directly.

He suggested “possibly surcharging executives”, before going further, saying: “There’s criminal activity going on here… maybe some people should be locked up.”

He said ordinary people would face serious consequences for similar actions, adding: “If you or I did it… we’d be in deep trouble,” while claiming bosses were able to carry on without consequences and still award themselves large bonuses.

Brazil said trust in previous assurances from SWW was low.

He said: “We’ve heard it all before, haven’t we? ‘Lessons learned, we’re very sorry,'” and added the firm was still “paying themselves obscene amounts of money, pumping out dividends, boosting the share price”.

On government plans to overhaul water regulation, Brazil said the council had heard similar promises before and felt it had been “let down basically by the authorities”, adding that it now felt it had to step in itself.

The council is planning to host its Devon’s first Water Quality Summit in the autumn.

Organisers said the summit aimed to bring together regulators, water companies, district councils, landowners, community groups and other stakeholders.

A SWW spokesperson said: “We recognise concerns about water quality in Devon and we continue to work proactively with councils to discuss our local plans and deliver improvements.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to discuss our multimillion-pound plans to improve water quality at Devon County Council’s water summit.

“We appreciate the opportunity to help shape the event and continue to engage constructively with the council.”

Keith Haslett, the new chief executive of Pennon, which owns SWW, said the group could not comment on the Devon council’s plans, but said the group “fully respects the outcome of the legal process”.

South West Water provides water and sewerage services to about 1.8 million customers in Devon and Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, plus small parts of Dorset and Somerset.

A lawsuit by law firm Leigh Day against SWW over sewage pollution includes people from the Devon towns of Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton and Lympstone, as well as Newquay and Penzance in Cornwall.

Lawyers argued SWW’s failings were “wide and entrenched in many coastal towns across the Devon and Cornwall region”.

The utility said at the time it was aware of the claim but it was unable to provide further comment.

In March, SWW admitted 18 pollution offences across Devon and Cornwall after years of illegal spills which affected rivers, beaches and protected wildlife habitats. It is due to be sentenced on 30 July.

SWW was fined £2.1m in 2023 for similar pollution offences.

The Environment Agency said one of the spills at Kilmington led to the deaths of thousands of fish, including some protected species, in the River Axe.