Hastings rally against sewage discharges held on St Leonards beach

Hastings and St Leonards Clean Water Action Group, which was formed last year, organised the event by Azur in St Leonards.

Crowds of people showed up and protested at the event on the beach, waving placards.

The demonstration came amid recent sewage discharges in the sea at Bexhill and across the south east.

On August 17, Rother District Council (RDC), advised people to avoid Bexhill beach and stay out of the sea ‘until further notice’.

The authority said that there had been a sewage discharge from the Galley Hill pumping station earlier that evening due to a ‘technical issue’, which was later resolved.

Becca Horn, campaigner for Hastings and St Leonards Clean Water Action Group, said: "We have had 147 spills in the last year, totalling over 1,300 hours of raw sewage being pumped in our seas, and that's just in Hastings and St Leonards alone.

"We need legislative change and for the Environment Agency to be given all the powers it needs to hold them (water companies) to account.

"This is a massive water crisis and it's not going to go away."

At the protest Hastings and Rye MP, Sally-Ann Hart, was asked why she did not vote for an amendment to the Environment Bill late last year, which campaigners said would have stopped sewage being dumped into seas.

Mrs Hart said: "I did not vote to dump sewage in our seas, I voted for legislation. This government is the first to set in legislation and impose a statutory duty on water companies to reduce sewage overflow and to invest in the infrastructure."

Following the protest, a Southern Water spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the incident at our pumping station which affected bathing waters and we understand the public concern, anxiety and anger.

"Protecting the environment is a key priority for us. With 80 out of 84 bathing waters on our 700 miles of coastline now excellent or good and none below the acceptable standard, clean water provides a huge boost for regional economies.

"While huge investments such as the £300 million Peacehaven wastewater treatment works has transformed the picture from 30 years ago when just 40 per cent of our bathing waters met the acceptable standard, there is more to do.

"Cutting pollution incidents is one crucial task.

"Thanks to our complete transparency around storm water releases, public awareness of how combined drains and sewers leads to EA permitted releases through outfalls hundreds or thousands of metres long has grown. The system protects homes, schools and hospitals from flooding but it is clearly no longer acceptable.

"Our Stormwater Taskforce is pioneering an approach which we believe can greatly reduce our reliance on the system. Working in partnership with councils and other stakeholders we are finding ways to cut rainfall out of the network using Southern Water engineering and nature based solutions.

"We would be delighted to meet the organisers of this event and tell the group more about our work.”

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