Effective action still needed to stop sewage pollution after proposals watered down by Labour locally and nationally

Attempts by Newcastle Liberal Democrats to introduce measures to address sewage pollution in the Ouseburn were watered down by Labour at Wednesday's City Council meeting. The following day, the Labour Government's bill to tackle polluting water companies was seen as a missed opportunity to take effective action by pollution campaigners.

Here in Newcastle, sewage discharges into the Ouseburn after heavy rain more than doubled in the last year to 9,607 hours - and a study by Newcastle University scientists demonstrated that the water quality was 100 times worse that the safe bathing standard.

Despite Labour's political manouvering to avoid taking effective action to tackle this national and local disgrace, Liberal Democrats gathered above the Ouseburn on Saturday to continue the campaign. Ouseburn pollution campaigners (pictured above), co-ordinated by Peter Allen, were joined by Tim Farron MP, the Lib Dems' national sewage campaign leader, above the Jesmond Dene on Armstrong Bridge. Together with other like-minded campaigners, they vowed to continue to continue the fight to improve our environment and to protect the health of people and pets playing in or near polluted water.

At Wednesday's City Council meeting, Cllr James Coles (North Jesmond) called on councillors to demand immediate corrective action from Northumbria Water to stop the pollution in the Ouseburn and for Urban Green, which manages Jesmond Dene on behalf of the Council to erect signs to warn visitors to the park of the dangers to children and pets palying near or in the river. He also called on the Council to call on the Government to hold the water companies to account for their mismanagement of our waterways, lakes and coastline.

James said: "Northumbrian Water, which should be safeguarding our water systems, has instead shown a shocking disregard for environmental standards. But they are not the only ones. Urban Green Newcastle, the organisation responsible for managing many of our city’s green spaces including Jesmond Dene, has let us down.

"We believe the discharge of untreated sewage into the Ouseburn is simply unacceptable. It is a breach of our trust and those responsible must be held to account. We need to see immediate action to correct this.”

Cllr Robin Ashby (Parklands) supported his colleague and took aim at Northumbria Water's "greedy owners plundering our pockets to line their own". In 2023, Robin calculated that Northumbrian Water's dividend payment of £110.8 million to its Chinese and American shareholders amounted to £396 for every hour of sewage spilled into our rivers.

Instead of supporting the motion, Labour councillors voted to water down the motion, claiming the problem was a national issue and not their responsibility. One Labour councillor even accused the Lib Dems of "grandstanding" ahead of the North Jesmond by-election on Thursday 12 September, called after long-serving Councillor Gerry Keating resigned due to ill-health in August. The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for action on Ouseburn pollution since early in 2024 and nationally have led calls for reform of our failed water system over the last year - many will recall Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey highlighting the issue during the General Election by falling off a paddle board, as well as other stunts.   

Earlier in the evening, Peter Allen, the Lib Dems' candidate for the North Jesmond by election and co-ordinator of the Ouseburn pollution campaign, aske the Council to consider using a recent Supreme Court decision to take action for damages against Northumbrian Water caused by sewage pollution, even if this was within permitted levels. However, Labour's Cabinet Member refused to take action, saying that this would be "very costly", despite the Council employing its own legal team. She also claimed that the Council was not a major landowner along the Ouseburn - though the sole trustee of the Charity that owns Jesmond Dene on behalf of the city is Newcastle City Council.

On Thursday, the Labour Government announced plans to introduce a bill to Parliament that could see water bosses jailed for obstructing water regulators over pollution incidents. However, pollution campaigners, including Lib Dem MP Tim Farron, pointed out that the proposals don't address the massive dividend payments made by water companies to their, largely foreign, owners and that there were no proposals to reform the regulatory system currently ineffectively policed by an underfunded Environment Agency and toothless regulator, OFWAT. 

Tim met with Newcastle's Lib Dem campaigners on Saturday to vow to continue the fight to make our water safe to people, pets and the environment.

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