Council

Agenda Item 30

Date of meeting:  20 July 2023

BRIGHTON & HOVE INDEPENDENTS GROUP AMENDMENT

Southern Water

That the relevant changes are made to the recommendations as shown below in strikethrough and bold italics:

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. Request the Council to pursue Southern Water to the full extent that the law allows for adequate compensation for the damage done to the City of Brighton & Hove by the failings of Southern Water implied in Notes (1), (2), and (6) above.

9. Requests that officers explore options for independent real-time testing of sea water along our beaches so residents and visitors have up-to-date information (SAS data is time-lagged)

Proposed by: Cllr Fishleigh                                            Seconded by: Cllr Earthey

Recommendations to read if carried:

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. Request the Council to pursue Southern Water to the full extent that the law allows for adequate compensation for the damage done to the City of Brighton & Hove by the failings of Southern Water implied in Notes (1), (2), and (6) above.

9. Explores options for independent real-time testing of sea water along our beaches so residents and visitors have up-to-date information (SAS data is time-lagged).