Agenda item

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by 12.00pm Tuesday 25 Jaunary 2022

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

The Committee had received a number of questions in advance of the meeting The Chairman explained that due to the number of questions received, question time would be extended beyond the usual time period. Of the questions received in advance, two members of the public were present to ask their questions. The Chairman announced that the other questions would be read out on behalf of those other members of the public and would be answered as part of a presentation by representatives Southern Water.

A Member of the public asked the following question: Given evidence that sewage in the old Civic Centre backed up into toilets during heavy rain and that raw sewage was observed in the street near the skate park as recently as 2021 what does Southern Water consider to be sufficient sewer infrastructure to be in place in this low-lying area to cope with an increase of 2,400 new residents from the proposed new developments? Will we be facing foul water in Shoreham streets like East Lancing or regular discharges of raw sewage into the already polluted River Adur?

A representative of Southern told the committee that work was in progress to see what level of work would need to be undertaken. The Free wharf site was in construction and on assessment of this, there was capacity for foul water and the location of the development that surface water issues could be addressed.

A Member asked the following question: What plans do Southern Water have for a)connecting the Shoreham houseboats to the main sewer on Shoreham Beach and b) infrastructure improvements to prevent raw sewage being pumped into the River Adur at Ropetackle, Shoreham, as occurred in October, 2021? The committee was told that to achieve this a multi-agency approach was needed. Southern Water would be happy to support the connection and explain how technically this could be achieved. This, however, would need to be a joint and collaborative matter.

A resident stated that questions that had been pre-submitted were not relevant for those present and the Chairman undertook to ask Southern Water to answer those questions in writing.

Those residents not present had their questions read out as follows

I’m an all year round swimmer in the sea. As a result I would very much like to know that the sea quality is being tested all year round, not just between March and September as now.  Also I would love to be able to swim in local rivers, as well as seeing greater diversity in animals and plants, but the information available regarding the water quality of those is very negative, there seem to be many pollutants being put into all our rivers, drainage from CSOs, farmland etc.  When can we expect for this to be more comprehensively controlled?

I live very near the Adur and am absolutely disgusted to read of the many times Southern water discharge untreated sewage into our river.  It is dangerous to people and to wildlife, and is inexcusable from a company that for a long time has paid hefty dividends to its shareholders.Can you please describe exactly what you intend to do ,and within what timescale, to ensure that raw sewage will only be discharged in EXCEPTIONAL  circumstances, eg when there is a storm surge, and not on any sort of a regular basisAnd can you please also describe what steps you are taking to ensure the development that is planned for Shoreham will not lead to additional discharges?

I moved to Worthing from London during the pandemic. As an avid open-water swimmer, my motive behind moving to the coast was to be able to access the sea. Little did I know at the time that it would not be that simple, given the sea is a literal dumping ground for raw sewage - and somehow it is being allowed to continue by the government and local authorities. Since finding out how bad the environmental situation is in our rivers and on our coastline, I am now embarrassed whenever I have visitors who without exception ask about swimming in the lovely-looking sea, only to be told it is sometimes too dirty to swim in. Many of my friends are from abroad and it is difficult to fathom how backward water treatment systems are in the UK. This should ring an alarm bell with local authorities and not least with the government. Even if the environmental aspects do not bother you, what about the inevitable decline of coastal economies in the future if people simply do not want to live here or come here for tourism? The economy will dry up. I urge you to approach the Southern Water presentation with scepticism, given this will have been vetted by professional corporate investor relations teams. Please ask questions such as why executive compensation is so high when such large-scale illegal activities, with reputational and monetary losses for the company, but even more devastating consequences for coastal ecosystems, people's health and the public image of the British coastline, are occurring under these executives' watch. I personally am trying to find ways to volunteer and put money into charities like Surfers Against Sewage that are taking action, for example by devising ways to put forward a stronger case to regulate these rogue companies, such as collecting data on pollution in the sea water. I can see many private individuals are doing the same. Meanwhile, I note the mention on the JOSC  event description about campaigns by Southern Water and local authorities to inform the public about the issue. These campaigns are quite insulting. We, the local residents, are pouring our private funds into trying to fix an issue which is about what should be a public utility - and the company itself that is conducting these illegal activities is educating the public. How does this make any sense? Moreover, I urge you to look up Southern Water's Twitter page. Why is the company tweeting greenwashed marketing tweets when this resource of a paid social media manager could be harnessed to do e.g. a cleanup of the coast with that same salary? No one follows Southern Water's social media for the marketing nonsense. Please represent your residents from the perspective from which they are observing this huge problem that is Southern Water and the broader issue.

I’d like to be kept abreast of any plans by Southern Water to clean up our rivers, seas and waterways. It’s important to me as a sea swimmer that our waterways are kept free and clear of the pollutants caused by dumping raw sewage. It’s clear that Southern Water need to take serious (and fast) measures to update their existing outdated infrastructure so that it can cope with our increased seaside population. I’d like to know exactly when they plan to do this, and how it will fund the updates. I’d also like to know how they plan to cease dumping sewage during any interim, and any efforts they plan to make to make good damage caused by previous dumps.

I would like to know why Southern Water believes it can illegally dump raw sewage into the sea.  Perhaps it believes the fines are not big enough to dissuade it from doing so? As a Worthing resident I was surprised to receive a 2021 Christmas card from Southern Water. I would much rather they spent my money on tackling the pollution they are causing.1. The recent 5 raw sewage discharges (in 8 weeks) onto the residential seaside streets of Lancing saw months of ongoing repair work at the sewage site in Freshbrook Road (on the corner of Stable View) with noisy vast tankers and flood lights at the site almost every night for weeks on end. While obviously nowhere near as bad as the hellish and frightening situation for flooded residents of West Beach, these constant emergency works meant that there was industrial noise and bright white light all night long around the houses nearby in Freshbrook Road, Stable View and all the way along to Larkfield Close, disturbing our sleep with noise and continuous bright white light every night for several weeks..As the sewage system in this area clearly isn't fit for purpose and capacity, and as there will undoubtedly continue to be 'emergency' works for the foreseeable future (whenever there is heavy rain?) due to Southern Water's inadequate sewage system, please can they take measures to at least obscure their floodlights from public view so that the light is contained and noise may also be minimised. At present they only have a wooden garden fence along a short part of one side of the sewage plant and open wire netting around the rest of the site, which does nothing to contain the light and industrial noise. Their vehicles also left a huge amount of mud and mess around the pavements. In future, please can Southern Water return to tidy up the area after all the heavy vehicles have gone? 2. What assurances can you give to residents of South Lancing that Southern Water are going to improve the sewers to make future toxic sewage bursts in our seaside area less likely? 3. How much are Adur and Worthing Council and Southern Water spending on the “Beauty of the Beach” campaign, including producing two promotional films? Do you (and they) not think it is hypocritical for them to ‘advise’ the public on keeping our beaches clean when they continue to dump toxic raw sewage into the sea?

Dear southern water can you explain why it has taken so long to start work on fixing pipe work on the west beach estate and why when you state in your apology letter that you have known about the ground water problem and the fact that the council laid the wrong pipes in the 1970s, that you didn't work faster to remedy this problem. We have had to deal with 4 major bursts in under 2 months and 15 bursts in the last 10 years this is a failure that lies solely at ians feet? Can southern water confirm that any work done on the west beach estate that southern water does will be back filled with foam concrete and won’t have to be fought for again and why won’t southern water take responsibility for other drainage systems on the estate e.g soakaways and gully systems?

Regarding the recent upsurge in people swimming in the sea and plans to increase sea swimming and water safety activities for adults and children over the next few years. I am a sea swimmer and sea swimming instructor living on Shoreham Beach.  I have run 2 Water Safety programmes for kids from The Perch in Lancing in 2018 and 2019 and plan to run another there this summer.  I also participated as a Beach Lifeguard in the pilot Sea and Sauna wellbeing scheme run off Worthing Beach by Worthing council this past autumn. I have plans to develop the sea swimming sessions I currently run in the summer on Shoreham Beach to make them accessible to a wider audience. to benefit the health of more Adur and Worthing Residents.  I also hope we can get some more children's sea safety schemes running in Shoreham and Worthing.  The sea is now being used for swimming in year round in unprecedented numbers and is now a real 'movement’, which could last for years - not a short term fad.Thousands of sea swimmers are now grumbling about Southern Water.  I can see the enormous change in infrastructure that is needed to curb pollution levels at our local beaches (and in Shoreham Harbour by the RNLI station in particular) but something needs to be done.  Please can Southern Water, for a start, make their reporting of sewage outfalls more timely and accurate (I have little confidence in the Beachbuoy reporting tool - there is a lag in reporting time) and then outline what their plans are for cleaning up the water in popular bathing spots.  We - as sea swimmers - would also like to be better informed about how much risk (ie. what are exact pollutant levels and what do these mean for our health) we are taking when swimming.  Please could there be better education and more transparent and accessible reporting available to us whilst the larger and more costly infrastructure issues are being worked on?

The question I want to submit is a simple one; when is the rapacious discharge of sewage into the sea going to stop? I want Southern Water to name  a firm date that cannot be fudged or obfuscated. Not the usual “we aim for” and give a timescale of between 2-6 years. I want a statement which says clearly “We will achieve clean water status by……” and then give assurances of how this will be done and if not what penalties they will have to face. Currently, the pathetic responses to this simple question by Southern Water only go to show that public health is not a priority - profit is their main objective. As a long time sea swimmer I have battled against innumerable gastric infections and was told by doctors that sea swimming was the most likely cause of some of the more obscure bacterial and parasitical infections I’ve acquired. This should not be happening. We should not be afraid of the waters around our shoreline. The government should be rigoursly pursuing companies like Southern Water and tightening up legislation around “necessary overflow discharges.” Water companies use this loophole to justify their activities.I have also had a series of ear infections which I believe are related to my sea swims. I have to pay Southern Water along with everyone else and I think the reckless and often illegal discharge into rivers and the sea is a serious health hazard and they should be held to account through the courts if necessary, made to compensate councils individuals and not just government depts. I absolutely commend your attempt to highlight this long standing problem and along with many others like Feargal Sharkey believe this issue is more important than just the “inconvenience” to wild swimmers, what water companies are doing is poisoning a natural resource that belongs to all of us.

We are a group of all year round swimmers and Adur residents. We love our river, sea, beaches and are big supporters of the Sussex Kelp Restoration Project.

Given Southern Water's ongoing practice of discharging raw sewage into the sea and river – which threatens all the above - please can you explain:

1) Why do you continue to support planning applications for large property developments when your infrastructure and capacity for treating current waste is so inadequate? Your responsibility is to ensure the required infrastructure is in place before any environmental effects occur.

2) Do you support the call for water companies to designate a stretch of river as bathing water by 2025 and if so what are your plans for doing so? If you don’t support this goal, why not?

Now that the immediate problems caused by the degrading sewage pipes on West Beach Estate have been temporarily solved could Southern Water confirm their timetable to (a)  replace the main in full (b)  repair or replace tanker damaged roads and pavements as currently we feel as though we are living in a perpetual building site.