Gillian Keegan, the Member of Parliament for Chichester, has called on the head of Southern Water to commit to immediate action to improve the situation at Chichester Harbour.
For those unaware, Southern Water, who operate the sewage network for residents of Chichester, have admitted to allowing a continuous discharge from their network into the water for much of the last month. According to the company's own, real-time 'Beachbuoy' tracker, the event has been ongoing since the 23rd of December.
As part of the damning rebuke, the MP has called for 'concrete committments' from Southern Water Chief Executive Lawrence, both to end the discharge and to take steps to 'minimise potential harm to the surrounding community and wildlife.'
The MP's letter goes on:
'[...] I know that the primary concern on most residents’ minds will be in ensuring that this does not happen again. I would therefore like you to detail the steps now being taken by Southern Water to accelerate previous efforts to improve the resilience of the network, particularly in the event of heavy rainfall of the kind we have experienced in past months.
I am deeply concerned by Southern Water’s approach this past month, and for the health of Chichester Harbour for every minute this is allowed to continue. Going forwards, I very much hope that we can see some of the promises made in previous months translate into meaningful improvements for local residents. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing from you on the above points as a matter of urgency.'
At the time of writing, Southern Water have yet to issue a response to the letter - a copy of which you can find below.
