“We’re taking legal action against the UK Government as a result of their failure to address the sewage pollution scandal facing English shores.”
“The legal case seeks to compel the Government to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan 2022 and impose tighter deadlines on water companies.”
.
There are concerns about untreated sewage ending up in our rivers:
How much sewage is ending up in the Sid? part two – The Sid
There are similar concerns about our seas:
The Marine Conservation Society is taking the government to court:
A legal case to stop sewage pollution: how did we get here?
Spills of untreated sewage into rivers and seas from so-called storm overflows have become a standard news item and seem to have hit a new high in the last year.
We’re taking legal action against the UK Government as a result of their failure to address the sewage pollution scandal facing English shores. We are suing the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for not taking effective action on sewage pollution entering our seas. We’ve not taken this step lightly.
A legal case to stop sewage pollution: how did we get here? | Marine Conservation Society
As reported in the wider marine press:
The Marine Conservation Society is announcing joining as co-claimant in a legal case against the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to protect English seas from sewage dumping.
The legal case seeks to compel the Government to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan 2022, impose tighter deadlines on water companies and redevelop the Plan to effectively apply to coastal waters which are, currently, almost entirely excluded.
Sandy Luk, Marine Conservation Society CEO, said: “Untreated sewage is being pumped into our seas for hundreds of thousands of hours each year; putting people, planet and wildlife at risk. We’ve tried tirelessly to influence the UK Government on what needs to be done, but their plan to address this deluge of pollution entering our seas is still unacceptable. We owe it to our members, supporters and coastal communities to act, which is why we’ve joined as co-claimants on this case. We’re out of options. Our seas deserve better.”
Launched and funded by the Good Law Project, the Marine Conservation Society will stand as co-claimants on the case with Richard Haward’s Oysters, and surfer and activist, Hugo Tagholm. Before reaching this point, the charity responded to a government consultation in March 2022 and met with DEFRA to express concern. In August 2022, the charity wrote an open letter to DEFRA outlining the ways in which the proposed Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan fails to protect the environment and public health from dumping raw sewage into the sea. However, the Plan hasn’t been amended and still fails to adequately address water companies’ excessive reliance on storm overflows and the harm their heavy use causes to our ocean.
MCS to take legal action over ocean sewage spills – Oceanographic – Oceanographic
And as reported in the West Country press:
A group of environmental charities is suing the Government for allowing water companies to pump sewage in our rivers and seas. The Marine Conservation Society has just filed a case joining as co-claimant in a judicial review against the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to protect English seas from sewage dumping.
The charity has been joined by fellow campaign group WildFish in the legal action, which is seeking to force the withdrawal and redrafting of the Government’s sewage overflows plan. The aim is to force the Government to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan 2022, impose tighter deadlines on water companies and redevelop the plan to effectively apply to many coastal waters which are currently almost entirely excluded.
Launched and funded by the Good Law Project, the Marine Conservation Society will also stand as co-claimants on the case with Richard Haward’s Oysters, and surfer and activist, Hugo Tagholm, former boss of St Agnes-based environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage.
Government being sued for allowing water companies to pump sewage into our seas – Cornwall Live