Lancashire Councillor calling for stricter punishments for water companies

A Lancashire County Councillor is calling on the Government to introduce toughter punishments and penalties for water and utility companies who are responsible for sewage entering our waterways.

Labour Councillor Julie Gibson has been speaking as United Utilities tackles an ongoing leak at their waste water works in Fleetwood.

A statement from United Utilities reads:

"United Utilities has continued to make good progress to return Fleetwood wastewater treatment works to full operation after a pipe which carries cleaned and treated water 5km out to sea fractured within the grounds of the plant.

"While teams work 24/7 to get the engineering fix in place, the Fylde Coast wastewater system is operating at a reduced capacity. Due to thunderstorms and heavy rain on Sunday evening, storm overflows operated along the Fylde Coast tonight."

United utilities is recommending people stay out of the water in the following locations:

Bispham

Blackpool Central

Blackpool North

Blackpool South

Cleveleys beach

Fleetwood

St Annes

St Annes North

Councillor Julie Gibson says:

“This is a disgrace. Under the Conservatives, water companies are turning Britain’s waterways into an open sewer. In its recent Green Paper, the Conservative Government set out targets to tackle this but failed to say on how it would deliver on these targets or how it would tackle the water companies’ failure to act.

"We are in a dirty water emergency and we have public health bosses saying that such discharges increase the risk of significant infections including antibiotic resistant bacteria and what action do we get from the Government – nothing.

She continued:

“According to 2021 data, from the Rivers Trust the worst area for sewage into rivers in central Lancashire was Chorley, where 4,014 spills were recorded, with sewage pouring into water courses for 26,625 hours. In Preston there were 2,200 spills over 12,394 hours and in South Ribble there were 1,246 spills over 6,319 hours. The industry holds its hands up but only after paying £63bn in dividends to shareholders. And their plans now? To borrow the money to fix the problem over the next decade which will be added to our household bills at a time when the cost of living is rocketing."

United utilities say they're working around the clock to fix the issues as soon as possible, but have not provided a time frame.