Protecting High Peak’s rivers and water from sewage

Last week, I voted to clean up High Peak’s rivers and waters. I voted for tougher penalties, including imprisonment for the most egregious breaches. Bonuses for CEOs will banned unless high standards are met to protect the environment. And, importantly, the water companies will also have to start covering the costs of enforcement action.

Under the Conservatives, our rivers and waters were choked with record levels of sewage. Across High Peak in 2023, 39 sites were polluted by Severn Trent Water and United Utilities. Across these sites, we saw 2,579 sewage dumps – and what was the punishment for the bosses of those companies? Did any of them face imprisonment? Were their bonuses curtailed or stopped entirely? Did they feel the hard edge of enforcement action?

No.

In 2022, the United Utilities Chief Executive received a bonus of £1 million and Severn Trent lifted its bonuses to £3.36 million. That is millions of pounds that the people of High Peak have put in bosses’ back pockets to reward their failure.

You’d be right to think how come they got away with it? The answer is simple, because they were allowed to. The Conservatives the Tories spent fourteen years hiding from the big issues – rather than facing them head-on. This approach has left infrastructure, whether it be hospitals, schools or water infrastructure, crumbling.

The Conservatives cut the Environment Agency’s budget by half between 2010 and 2024, leaving the agency toothless to tackle the disgraceful behaviour of our water company bosses.

Unlike the last government, we will not let the water companies hide from their wrongdoing. The new law will see that all thirty-nine sites in High Peak that had sewage dumps have independent monitoring.

I will always stand up for the preservation of nature in High Peak and I am proud that the Labour Government have put into action an ambitious plan to fix our broken water system within our first six months in office. We are turning the page on years of decline and will attract much-needed investment which will preserve the beauty of High Peak and the Peak District for generations to come.