Cornwall MP calls for water firms to face criminal penalties for sewage target fails
Cherilyn Mackrory has raised the issue of river pollution in Parliament
Last updated 7th Sep 2022
Cherilyn Mackrory, MP for Truro and Falmouth, has called on the government to take tougher action on water companies found not be complying with their legal sewage discharge obligations.
Speaking during an urgent question on sewage discharges in Parliament on Tuesday, Cherilyn praised the government for being the first in history to implement a plan to tackle the impacts of storm overflows.
The plan increases storm overflow monitoring to 100% by next year, introduces strict new fines, and requires water companies to deliver new infrastructure to tackle the issue.
However, Cherilyn argued that the government should go further by introducing unlimited fines and criminal penalties for water companies that fail to meet their legal obligations.
Question to George Eustice
Addressing George Eustice, the now former Environment Secretary, Cherilyn said: "Can I commend this Secretary of State, a fellow Cornish MP, for being the first Secretary of State to grasp this nettle and take robust action.
"This is a serious problem in Cornwall, particularly on the River Fal, affecting our shellfish, and is something I raised over two and a half years ago".
"Does he agree that enough is enough and that if water companies found not to comply with their obligations, they should face unlimited fines - which I would like to see ringfenced so we can invest back in to fix the problem - and even criminal penalties. And if so, will he set out how these will be implemented?"
Response from George Eustice
Responding, George Eustice said: "My honourable friend raised an important point and as I said, we’re bringing record numbers of investigations and prosecutions against water companies for potential breaches of their permit conditions.
"In addition, in the River Fal, there is also a challenge as she would know around agricultural diffused pollution which contributes to the issue on the mussel and oyster fishery in that particular part of the world, and that is something that we are addressing through our new targets under the environment act".
Speaking after the urgent question, Cherilyn said: "The level of sewage pollution into the River Fal is unacceptable, and I was pleased to raise the state of the river directly with George Eustice today.
"It is right that he affirmed the government's commitment to delivering new targets and investigating and prosecuting water companies that fail to meet their obligations. I look forward to working with the Government to make sure these punishments are as robust as possible, and to do all we can to tackle the impacts of storm overflows in the River Fal and across Cornwall.
"I also look forward to meeting again with South West Water next week, where I will be pressing them to tackle storm overflows in our region as urgently as possible".
Labour putting the government 'on notice'
Labour claimed it was putting the Government "on notice" over sewage dumping, as a minister said it was only recent increased monitoring which had led to the discovery of how large the problem was.
Shadow Environment Secretary Jim McMahon told the Commons: "The scenes over the summer have shown us again that the country is awash in Conservative-approved filthy raw sewage. Over the last six years, there’s been over a million sewage discharge spill events which, on average, are still taking place every two and a half minutes".
He added: "I have this message for whoever may be in post as early as this evening – the Labour Party is putting you on notice. We are taking this fight constituency to constituency, from Cumbria to Cornwall, to turn those neglected filthy brown seats into bright red".
Response from George Eustice
George Eustice replied: "This is the first Government to increase monitoring, so we knew there was a problem. This is the first Government to set out a plan, a £56 billion investment plan to tackle this. No previous government, not even governments made up from the benches opposite, ever prioritised this issue in the way that we have".
Mr Eustice had earlier told MPs: “It is only when this Government required increased monitoring that we discovered the scale of the problem and so the reality is that this has been a problem for some time".
Shortly after the debate, Mr Eustice lost his role as Environment Secretary during Liz Truss's first Cabinet reshuffle as Prime Minister. He is replaced by former Minister for International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena.