Date of meeting: 20 July 2023

Proposer: Councillor West

Seconder: Councillor Shanks

Ward(s) affected: All

Notice of Motion

Green Group

Council notes:

1. Outrage across the city is growing at the fact that raw sewage continues being dumped into our seas by water companies such as Southern Water;

2. Residents are rightly concerned that the city’s sea, waterways and water supplies are unsafe to use and damaging to natural habitats and the environment;

3. Southern Water was privatised in 1989, which subjects vital supplies of water to market pressures in order to generate profit for shareholders;

4. The combination of defunding, deregulation and privatisation that is obliterating services across our country and allowing water companies to dump sewage with relative impunity;

5. Public ownership of water is an essential step to fix this systemic problem, as it would ensure that water companies’ purpose is to deliver clean water to residents, rather than profits to shareholders;

6. Following the work of campaign groups such as Surfers Against Sewage and the previous administration, the city needs accountability and compensation from Southern Water to the city.

This council resolves to:

7. Request the Council to continue the previous administration’s effort to secure and implement a commitment for Southern Water to pay for compensation to the city in the form of paying for the city’s public toilet service, or another appropriate equivalent compensation;

8. Call on every party standing in the next General Election to commit bringing water companies into public ownership.