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Lancashire’s ‘appalling’ sewage leak a ‘torrid state of affairs’ for county beaches as summer season arrives
The leader of Blackpool Council has hit out at the ‘appalling’ sewage problem plaguing the Lancashire coastline, with one leading environmentalist calling for the government to intervene and threaten fines if water companies cannot comply with targets.
A ‘no swim’ warning has been in place across eight beaches on the Lancashire coastline since a sewage leak on Monday, June 13, following extreme storms in Lancashire. Some 40mm of rain fell in two hours, with the Fleetwood wastewater treatment works over capacitated as a result.
It comes as urgent repair work to a burst pipe the wastewater treatment takes place, with the pipe usually carrying water after it has been treated and cleaned, to the sea.
The situation meant untreated sewage, mixed with rainwater, was released into the sea by United Utilities, leading to the no swim warning across Bispham, Blackpool Central, Blackpool North, Blackpool South, Cleveleys, Fleetwood, St Annes and St Annes North beaches.
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More than a week later, the warning remains in place. And today (June 21), the issue was described as “appalling” by the leader of Blackpool Council, Lynn Williams.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4, Councillor Williams said the issue is “incredibly disappointing and really worrying” after presenter Nick Robinson said the incident “could not be much more serious for Blackpool”.
Coun Williams said: “We’re just at the start of our summer season with some glorious weather and we’re faced with having to put out advisory notices telling people not to go into the sea because of the discharges of sewage. It’s appalling.”
The council leader told Mr Robinson that United Utilities had called the incident an “exceptional circumstance” that left no option other than to “discharge [waste] into the sea”.
Following the interview, a spokesperson for Untied Utilities said work is ongoing to return a fractured pipe to full capacity. The pipe fracture itself did not release any sewage or treated wastewater into the sea.
Appearing alongside Coun Williams on Radio 4 was environmentalist Feargal Sharkey. Mr Sharkey, who is also widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones, claimed that United Utilities “are by far and away the country’s largest dumper of sewage” in the country.
“The coast from Cumbria to Cornwall, around Kent to Berwick-upon-Tweed, is flagged with sewage being dumped onto our beaches,” he said.
Attention was also focused on the Surfers Against Sewers charity and its live water quality map. Today, the map says a total of 10 beaches in Lancashire have a pollution risk, all because of ‘sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours’, with Morecambe North and Morecambe South included on top of the eight already with warnings in place. It has also been reported by the BBC that the broken pipe is expected to be fixed by the middle of next week. But Coun Williams was concerned at the actions already taken, saying “we don’t know how much sewage has been discharged”.
She said: “United Utilities are not obliged to say; only to say how many times and for how long. It’s a torrid state of affairs for a company that last year paid out £300m to its shareholders.”
Mr Sharkey spoke of “regulatory failures” across the North West and country when it came to the handling of waste in the UK, while saying United Utilities has a “systemic problem” and “no problem with money”, referencing the shareholder payout.
Coun Williams said: “People are fed up with this but this has to be down to the government and Environment Agency. They have to hold water companies and United Utilities to account. There needs to be legally bounded targets.”
Mr Sharkey said the government should issue an enforcement order against United Utilities that if cannot be achieved, could result in a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover, adding: “I think that might help focus a few boardroom minds.”
On coming to Blackpool, Coun Williams said: “The advisory notice is not to go into the sea but the beaches are not impacted. Please do come, just don’t have a paddle right now.”
United Utilities spokesperson said: “We are making strong progress in constructing a bypass pipeline which will enable, when completed, the treatment plant at Fleetwood to get back to normal. Our teams are working around the clock to complete the work which involves laying more than 2km of steel pipework, manoeuvred into place with cranes and a helicopter. We are now in the final stages of that work.
“The bathing water advice remains in place for now and the decision about whether that can be lifted will be made by the Environment Agency in due course and based on evidence and on protecting public health and the environment.”
