River Lim clean up to be 'fast tracked' but campaigners only "cautiously optimistic"
South West Water have promised to invest £20M to clean up the ‘ecologically dead’ River Lim in Lyme Regis
South West Water hope to ‘fast track funding’ to clean up the River Lim after campaigners called the river “ecologically dead.”
The story attracted national media attention and a spokesperson from the River Lim Action Group even thinks it prompted this response: “The community getting behind what needs to happen has worked, now South West Water just need to follow through.”
The water company recently announced £20 million would be available from 2025 onwards but now they’ve promised to submit an application to Ofwat this October.
Vicki Elcoate from the River Lim Action Group believes this has been a long-time coming: “They've had two years to sort out these problems and that's why our rivers are in the state they're in, but it is never too late.
“We absolutely believe the river will recover, we’ll get our wildlife back and it will stop people from walking down the river and saying it stinks or being so upset about it all the time.”
Part of the investment plan will go towards increasing storm storage at Uplyme Sewage Treatment works, making improvements to storm overflows, and reducing the volumes of storm water reaching the Sewage Treatment Works with the aim of reducing spills “towards the target of 10 spills per annum”.
South West Water said: “All of the planned work is scheduled for completion by March 2027 including at Front Beach.”
Vicki Elcoate said: “We welcome this progress from South West Water. Now we need to see Ofwat get behind it too to release the funds. The state of the river needs addressing urgently and we want to see the work happening as soon as possible”.
She added: “This will be a test of the government’s stated commitment to cleaning up the appalling high levels of sewage discharge currently blighting the nation’s rivers and seas.”
Campaigners are calling for work to begin “as soon as possible” but hope the project isn’t “capped by funding” as it may cost more than £20 million to “solve the problem.”
As it stands, the request to bring forward the investment is subject to regulatory approval.