‘Incapable’ government ‘not taking sewage crisis seriously’ as taskforce only met once in last year, FOI finds

Sewage campaigners have slammed the government as “incapable” after a freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that England’s storm overflows taskforce only met once in the last year.

The taskforce was set up by the government to tackle raw sewage discharges by water companies in England and is supposed to meet fortnightly, according to its mission statement.

The group includes representatives from the government, regulators, the water industry and environmental NGOs

Underwater filmmaker Mark Barrow from Beneath British Waters, who films sewage in UK rivers, told NationalWorld that the result of the FOI request “does not surprise me one bit”.

He said the taskforce “was always going to fail” after claiming the government and ministers “do not take water pollution seriously”.

Last August the taskforce published its storm overflows reduction plan giving water companies a deadline of 2035 to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into bathing waters, and an overall target of 2050 to stop dumping sewage elsewhere.

Campaign group The Good Law Project sought all fortnightly meeting dates of the taskforce between 1 April 2022 to 25 April this year, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs revealed it had only met once during that time on 30 August 2022.

It found there had been no follow-up meetings to drive through the storm overflow reduction plan or to check progress.

Responding to the criticism, Defra said the group had not met it again because it had already published its storm overflows reduction plan in August.

Meanwhile there continues to be sewage alerts at beaches across the UK. In April more than 40 beaches in South West England were issued with alerts after stormy weather, with the public urged not to enter the water.

Mr Barrow said: “It is all very well having a meeting at a round table but if that results in going around in circles which this has then nothing will get sorted.

“The reality is we need people to set the goals but deliver too, at this rate we will have nothing left.”

He added that the government is “incapable of delivering anything” and “maybe change is needed, but who?”.

Emma Dearnaley, the legal director at the Good Law Project, told the Guardian that the storm overflows taskforce only meeting once since April 2022 is “typical of this government’s laid-back approach to the sewage crisis blighting our country”.

The Good Law Project alongside campaign group WildFish are making a high court challenge to the government’s storm overflow scheme. They will argue that the plan will lead to sewage being discharged into waterways for decades to come and does not protect the majority of coastal areas.

Ms Dearnaley said: “We need the government to impose tougher measures to stop water companies from polluting our waters and bring this unacceptable situation to an end. That is why we are supporting a legal challenge to try to compel the government to put in place a much more robust and urgent plan.”

In its response to the FOI request Defra said: “Since last summer officials have continued to take action on sewage discharges, including the development of the water restoration fund, launching the continuous water quality and event duration monitoring consultation and the variable monetary penalties consultation, as well as continuing to work with regulators to hold water companies to account.

“We have also recently announced a new statutory target for storm overflows and plans to consult on expanding the storm overflow discharge reduction plan.”