Alison Griffiths, Member of Parliament for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, highlighted the impact of sewage discharges.
In 2024, there were 529 raw sewage discharges in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. That’s a threat to our environment, public health, and local economy. It’s simply not acceptable.
Alison raised this in Parliament and will keep pressing for investment in water infrastructure, action on illegal misconnections and cowboy builders, and real transparency and accountability from Southern Water, Ofwat, and the Environment Agency.
She's visited the Ford Wastewater Treatment Works and went on shift with the misconnections team. Work is ongoing to upgrade the network, but this crisis needs a joined-up, strategic approach.
When local schools are taking children to the beach and being told that they cannot swim in the sea, it is not just disappointing; it is disgraceful. We owe them better.
In the House of Commons, Alison explained,
"I am pleased to be able to bring the House’s attention to my constituents’ concern about the continuing discharge of raw sewage into our local seas and other bodies of water. In my constituency, we saw 529 such discharges in 2024 from just 14 storm overflow points. These incidents continued for a combined duration of over 6,200 hours. That is simply not acceptable. It poses a serious threat not only to public health and the environment but to our local tourism and marine economy, on which so many of my constituents depend. We must act decisively to improve our ageing water infrastructure, enforce stricter regulations and demand transparency from our water companies, from Ofwat and from the Environment Agency.
"The other issues that have been identified in my constituency—I imagine that they are wider issues, too—are illegal misconnections and cowboy builders, which we must crack down on. Without addressing those issues, we will not get the results that we need, and constituents need to know what is being done to stop them.
"Since being elected, I have had constructive engagement with Southern Water and the Environment Agency’s local team and head office. Having visited Ford wastewater treatment works and done a shift with the misconnections team in Bognor Regis, I know that work is being done to upgrade the network, but this issue requires a strategic, cross-agency approach—one that considers the serious impact of the Government’s continued pursuit of house building on our floodplains on flood resilience and sewage discharges. When schools in my constituency are taking children to the beach and being told that they cannot swim in the sea, it is not just disappointing; it is disgraceful. It is not the legacy that we want to leave for the next generation—we owe them better."
