Councillors vote to request improved sewage data

Date published: 30th November 2021

At North Norfolk District Council’s Full Council, Councillors voted in favour of requesting year-round sewage information updates from water providers Anglian Water.

It was also agreed the Leader of the Council, Cllr Sarah Butikofer, would write to Phillip Dunne MP, of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Select Committee stating:

1) This Council is in agreement with the Government U-turn on supporting the amendment which will place a new legal duty directly on water companies to progressively reduce the adverse impacts of storm overflow discharges and provide enforcement of the duty by the secretary of state, or OFWAT (the Water Services Regulation Authority).

2)This Council considers it vital that in addition to setting targets for CSO prevention, the government places a legal obligation on the water companies to classify CSO discharge outlets according to their condition and subsequent performance and produce action plans for infrastructure improvement since there is currently no legal obligation to do so.

The motion was raised following nationwide concerns over sewage emissions and the cleanliness of emissions entering into river systems and coastal waters, such as those in North Norfolk.

The proposal requests year-round figures for sewage discharges (including Combined Sewage Outfall) across North Norfolk and an explanation of how this is information is shared or articulated with residents.

As part of this request, the water company would immediately inform the Council’s Environmental Health department of any and all discharges into North Norfolk waters, when they are made.

It also seeks to discover what additional measures are being taken to reduce the sewage discharges or other pollution incidents in North Norfolk rivers and coastal waters.

Nigel Lloyd said: “It’s about cleaning up our area. We’ve got blue flag beaches, and the chalk beds. It’s something that we should ask Anglia Water to come regularly and report what they’re doing.

The Council should be doing this to protect the safety of our residents, our businesses, our coastal areas and our tourist industry”

The motion was proposed by Cllr. Nigel Lloyd and seconded by Cllr. Liz Withington.

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the motion.

Read the full motion