Stop Sewage Pollution

At September's Full Council meeting this year, the local Labour Party had an opportunity to suggest some practical ideas to help clean up this mess on a local level. It is totally wrong to rely on local taxpayers to continuously fund clean-up costs.

 

Unfortunately, Labour wasted this opportunity by opting to launch an attack on the Conservatives instead. They perhaps forget that they too were to blame, when they were in power. The Conservative party voted to shorten the debate by quickly moving to a vote, so the Lib Dems were denied the right to speak. Consequently, nothing was achieved.

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"Just last year, 'Surfers Against Sewage' reported that raw sewage was dumped into the River Humber over 478 times from North East Lincolnshire alone, in particular from East Marsh, Immingham and Cleethorpes, which is clearly making our bathing waters unsafe"

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"But it is not just our coastal river that is in crisis. The truth is, raw sewage is being released in multiple rivers, across many of our wards. 

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"For instance, the River Trust reports that in Humberston last year, untreated sewage was released into Bucks Beck, 57 times.

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"In Wolds Ward, raw sewage was released into the Laceby Beck 174 times in 2021 alone.

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"The River Trust also reports that in Healing, Stallingborough, Humberston and Waltham, there are sewage overflows that have no monitoring equipment at all, so we do not know the exact extent to which untreated sewage is being discharged into our local rivers, but we do know, it is all far too much.

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East Marsh Ward Councillor Nicola Aisthorpe said,"The issue of raw sewage being released into our waterways is a huge cause for concern and surely cannot be allowed to continue. We need urgent action before it is too late to reverse the damage!"

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Grimsby and Cleethorpes Liberal Democrats have a plan to support our natural environment and tackle the climate crisis on a local level, and we won’t stand for the continuing pollution of our precious rivers. 

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Therefore, we call for the Council to:-

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• Ensure the Council's 'Nature Assets Plan' and the 'Local Plan' supports river and coastal recovery.

• Embed river recovery in all strategic decisions, budgets and approaches to decisions by the Council (particularly in planning, regeneration and economic policy).

• Create an online portal on the Council website to update the public on the river and coastal recovery process.

• Write to Anglian Water to request details of their plans to eradicate the practice of untreated sewage discharge to local rivers and coastal waters.

• Work where possible with Anglican Water, the Environment Agency, Grimsby and Cleethorpes MPs, Coastal Partnerships, and other agencies, to combat threats to the quality of water in our local rivers and coastal waters.

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The time for action is now. Join us in demanding that the Conservative administration at North East Lincolnshire Council does more to protect our treasured waterways. Sign our petition today.