Luke Pollard MP today [07 October] called for South West Water to publish an investment plan for Plymouth Central Wastewater Works at Cattedown within six weeks.
Writing today to the CEO of South West Water, Keith Haslett, Mr Pollard said people in Plymouth have been left “paying the price” for years of underinvestment in the Plymouth Central works. Mr Pollard said this investment must come from South West Water profits not “water bill hikes”.
An investigation of the Plymouth Central works last week by the Environment Agency uncovered that South West Water was discharging sewage, without permission, into Plymouth Sound. Mr Pollard said he was ‘astonished’ that South West Water had failed to tell the public and that urgent investment in infrastructure was needed to prevent future sewage dumping.
Under-investment in Plymouth Central treatment works has also left residents in Cattedown facing “unbearable pongs” for several years, Mr Pollard said. Following his campaigning, in June the firm launched an online tool to make it easier to report bad smells from the works.
In his letter to Keith Haslett, Mr Pollard said that South West Water should publish an investment plan within six weeks to prevent a repeat of the sewage discharges into Plymouth Sound and end the Cattedown pong for good.
Mr Pollard also called on the firm to publicly confirm that its record-breaking fine of £7.8 million will not be paid for by billpayers or result in higher water bills.