Havant Borough Council (HBC) is calling on the government and regulators to urgently inspect Southern Water’s operational sites in the borough following a unanimous vote of no confidence in the water company.
At its full council meeting on Wednesday, 7 October, councillors debated a motion to declare a vote of no confidence in Southern Water and to write to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ofwat, and the Environment Agency, urging them to take regulatory action against Southern Water and to inspect the Budds Farm wastewater treatment works and the Havant Thicket reservoir site.
Councillors from all parties voted in favour of the motion, which also formally requested the Planning Inspectorate to pause or re-evaluate plans to recycle wastewater at the new Havant Thicket reservoir and for Southern Water to fund real-time water quality testing and electronic signage at Havant’s coastal bathing waters, including Hayling Island.
Councillor Jonathan Hulls, who brought the motion, said: “This vote of no confidence sends a clear and direct message to Southern Water that we will no longer accept their continued failure to respect and protect our local environment and waters.
“For years now our residents, visitors, businesses and our wildlife have had to put up with repeated discharges of untreated sewage into Langstone Harbour, Chichester Harbour, and off Hayling Island, posing a serious risk of harm to public health, local tourism and marine economies.
“We are demanding that the government and environmental and industry regulators that hold water companies to account come to Havant, inspect Southern Water’s operational sites and practices and take action against them to bring the improvements that are desperately needed.
“We recognise there is a shortage of water in the southeast, which is why HBC originally granted planning permission to Portsmouth Water to build a fresh water reservoir in the borough.
“Since then, Southern Water has applied to the government via a Development Consent Order (DCO) for permission to recycle effluent through the reservoir, essentially chemically treating sewage so that it can be used as drinking water.
“Whilst the DCO will be decided by the Secretary of State, we believe Southern Water must demonstrate real and sustained improvement before effluent recycling at the reservoir should even be considered.”