Stone Labour Party and Councillor Jill Hood have joined forces to demand that Severn Trent stop dumping raw sewage straight into a major River Trent sports facility.
At a recent meeting with Severn Trent Water officers, convened by Stone Labour Party and attended by Councillor Hood, the water company admitted that on approximately six occasions in 2023, raw sewage was poured into the middle of the town’s canoe slalom course to relieve pressure on a main sewage treatment pipe.
Photographs of raw sewage being released were taken last summer by Phil Barber, a Stone resident and canoeist of 40 years standing who also attended the meeting. He said:
“Dumping raw sewage into the middle of a sports facility is simply unacceptable. The canoe club have closed events in the past and are aware that any future event may have to be cancelled at short notice.”
Another Stone resident got in touch with the local Labour Party to say
“This affects me and my son as we are regularly on the Trent. When the outlet goes, it’s disgusting”.
The Severn Trent Water officers told the meeting that to move the sewage outlet up to 300 metres away from the site would cost approximately £400,000, and that persuading the water company to fund this would be difficult.
Bill Lockwood, Chair of Stone Branch Labour Party, said
“We made it clear at the meeting that the water company must carry out this work. £400,000 is a very small amount compared to the £508 million profit made by them in the last financial year, which was £2 million pounds up on the year before.
This stretch of river runs alongside the extensive new play facilities provided at Westbridge Park and is bound to attract additional river users, including families paddling and swimming in the summer.
We cannot allow Severn Trent Water to continue creating a health hazard on financial grounds, and will be meeting again with the company in the Spring to continue to make our case. If any other Stone residents have experience of this sewage pollution and the way it has affected them we would like to hear from them at contact@stonelabour.co.uk “
Stone Labour Party intends to continue its campaign to clean up the River Trent throughout the area following the release of Environment Agency figures that in 2022, the latest period for which figures are available, there were 672 sewage dumps across 30 sites in Stone Constituency for a duration of 2,536 hours.
