Chichester District Council teams up with others to demand Southern Water 'cleans up its act'

Chichester District Council is one of more than 40 councils across the South East that joined together to hold Southern Water to account over pollution and infrastructure failings.

The group was set up in response to issues including flooding; sewage backing up into people’s homes, gardens and roads; the ongoing problem of discharges into rivers and waterways; and the inability to deal with additional development.

A meeting was held on Tuesday January 31 when the group discussed action and experiences to date across the full Southern Water network.

Deputy leader and cabinet member for planning, cllr Susan Taylor and cllr Penny Plant, cabinet member for the environment, at Chichester District Council both attended the meeting.

Cllr Taylor said: “It’s not just Chichester District Council which is frustrated at the issues and concerns, which lead back to Southern Water’s failings.

“All of the councils attending the meeting were united in their pledge to hold Southern Water to account and press for immediate action, particularly in relation to upgrading and investing in the sewerage system.

“We have been challenging Southern Water in relation to their engagement with both the planning process and the environmental impacts of discharging sewage into Chichester Harbour for some time. This includes previously filing an official complaint about the company to the Water Services Regulation Authority, Ofwat. We believe the way forward is to work with our local authority partners to apply significant pressure on Southern Water.

“We are also involved in a Three Harbours Summit, which involves Southern Water and representatives from the council and other local authorities, along with relevant agencies such as Natural England, the Environment Agency, Chichester Harbour Conservancy, Langstone Harbour Board and Sussex Wildlife Trust. This is a positive step towards working together to help improve the harbour for future years to come. The aim is that this group will have a positive impact on Southern Water’s five-year investment plan.”

Cllr Plant added: “Only recently, senior representatives from Southern Water, the Environment Agency; Ofwat and Natural England were invited to the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting so that they could be challenged on some of the serious problems our residents are facing.

“These include the recent flooding and associated drain surcharging; sewage and subsequent discharges into the harbour and water courses affecting the water quality of Chichester Harbour; delays in upgrades to the sewerage network; and slow responses to planning applications.”

“Our residents deserve better. Unfortunately, we do not have the direct power to regulate Southern Water or require it to address its rather lengthy list of failings. But as local authorities working together, we can do our utmost to apply pressure to seek the required action needed to end this catalogue of failings.”

In a statement to Sussex World and the Chichester Observer last week, Toby Willison, director of environment and water quality at Southern Water, said reducing storm overflows is the company’s ‘biggest priority’, adding: “We are already running six Pathfinder Projects, bringing together multiple partner agencies, to remove or ‘slow the flow’ of water getting into our sewers. By testing new approaches and concepts we can demonstrate that effective interventions can be delivered by working closely with community groups and local authorities. For example, on the Isle of Wight we have seen a significant reduction in storm overflows by the rollout of water butts in customers’ gardens. Ultimately, solving this problem will take significant investment, time and partnership working – all of which we are committed to, now and into the future.”

All councils agreed that regular meetings should continue to take place at the end of the meeting.