Tory Sewage Scandal Affecting Bootle Residents
Last year, 30 days worth of raw sewage was dumped into the Bootle constituency, including Crosby Beach, the Labour Party has revealed.
The Rivers Trust Interactive Map which displays constituency breakdowns of monitored storm overflows, shows that in 2021, raw sewage was discharged into Bootle’s natural environment for a duration of 722 hours.
The map also points to 140 spills in Bootle in 2021. A damning indictment of Tory failure to hold water bosses to account in polluting the areas in which people live, work and holiday.
A fortnight ago, the Labour Party found that that on average water companies in England and Wales are pumping raw sewage into our natural every two-and-a-half minutes, with areas such as beaches, playing fields and bathing waters having faced 1,076 years-worth of raw sewage over a six-year period.
This comes amid revelations last week, that prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss was responsible for unleashing cuts of tens of millions of pounds to the Environment Agency, with Environment Agency data showing that the Tories presided over a doubling of water companies dumping raw sewage in subsequent years.
Specifically, during her time as Environment Secretary and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Truss failed to hold a single meeting with a water company to discuss their performance of sewage dumping and oversaw the slashing of Environment Agency grant, by a quarter, which was dedicated to monitoring of water companies and cutting pollution in our waters.
Environment Agency sources pointed to staff having been moved away from environmental monitoring following Truss’ period at DEFRA, casting serious doubts over Truss’ competency on major issues facing her previous departments and judgement in understanding the consequences of her decisions.
Last year, Conservative MPs voted to allow water firms to continue sewage dumping, having blocked a Labour-backed amendment to the Environment Bill, that would have sought to progressively eliminate sewage dumping into our natural environment.
Peter Dowd MP said:
“These recent statistics are shocking and unacceptable, that is why I signed the joint letter amongst other North West Labour MPs, to United Utilities CEO Steve Mogford to ask that he take action on this issue. Many families from the region flocked to Crosby Beach in the recent weeks to enjoy the hot weather, and it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that this water is safe for our children.”
