Stuart Anderson, South Shropshire’s Conservatives Parliamentary Candidate, has welcomed a £41 million investment by Severn Trent to prevent an estimated 2,500 sewage spills from polluting local waterways. The fast-tracked improvements will be delivered by April 2025, after the Government directed water and sewage companies last December to measurably reduce sewage spills over the next year.
Having been an early supporter of Philip Dunne MP’s Bill to clean up our rivers and waterways, Stuart welcomed the fast-tracked investment. Key parts of Dunne’s Bill were adopted by Government through the Environment Act 2021, which required it to publish a discharge reduction plan. This plan is the first such plan by any government and sets stringent, time-bound targets that the water industry must meet to progressively reduce sewage spills from storm overflows - including to ensure that no storm overflow is discharging due to a lack of operational maintenance by 1st December 2024.
These stringent targets will prevent hundreds of thousands of sewage spills every year and requires water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history – £56 billion capital investment over 25 years. Stuart welcomed the accelerated funding from Severn Trent, one of several companies making new commitments overall totalling £180 million to prevent more than 8,000 spills. It is addition to existing £3.1 billion investment between 2020 and 2025 to deliver an average 25% reduction in sewage spills by 2025, complementing companies’ ongoing annual investment to maintain the performance of the existing network.
The £41 million funding by Severn Trent will see more investment in cutting-edge technology and specialists to detect and reduce spills. This includes investment in AI systems to manage storm load by automatically adjusting water levels in storage tanks. It also includes the installation of Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) dual monitors, which provide them with much more information about where and when storm overflows are occurring, to provide a back-up data source. Severn Trent will also recruit staff and improve equipment in waste network teams, double the number of Network Technicians; and invest more in asset improvement. In January 2024, the Government announced a fourfold increase in water company inspections by March 2025 to drive the improved performance that the public rightly expect to see.
Stuart Anderson said:“I welcome this £41 million accelerated investment, being fast-tracked by Severn Trent, to prevent thousands of sewage spills. It will see the latest equipment deployed and more technical staff employed to identify and prevent spills. Philip Dunne MP has been a formidable campaigner for more investment in this area and I was proud to be an early supporter of his Bill to clean up our rivers and waterways – which was adopted by the Government and has resulted in us becoming the first Government to set out a clear expectation that water companies must take reduce storm overflows, driven by £56 billion capital investment by water companies over 25 years. If elected as South Shropshire’s next MP, I will continue Philip’s great work - pushing for further investment to make a significant impact locally, helping to clean up our waterways and deliver plentiful supply for future generations.”
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: “The amount of sewage being spilled into our rivers is completely unacceptable and the public rightly expects action. This £180 million of accelerated investment, which will stop more than 8,000 sewage spills over the next year, is a welcome step forward as we continue to push for better performance from water companies and hold them to account. This money will mean more cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, and more specialist staff to detect and reduce spills. Today’s announcement builds on significant work by this government to protect and strengthen our waters with increased investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement action.”
