Sewage scandal contaminates Wigan area

The Labour Party’s analysis of Environment Agency data shows that in 2022, raw sewage was discharged within the Makerfield constituency for 2,317 hours, which is the equivalent of there being a continuous flow of sewage taking place for a staggering 96 days of the year.

Labour’s research also points to 859 sewage dumping events having taken place locally last year and it sets the blame squarely at the door of the Conservative government.

This equates to a new sewage spill every 12 hours.

The data comes after Labour’s analysis revealed that nationally since 2016, a new sewage dumping event has taken place an average of every two-and-a-half minutes, with rivers, lakes, seas, and beaches having faced a staggering 1,276 years’ worth of raw sewage over just a seven-year period.

This damning report will spark serious concern at the environmental, health and economic impact that sewage dumping is having on communities across the country.

During the passage of the Environment Bill, Conservative MPs, including Leigh’s James Grundy, voted to allow water firms to continue sewage dumping, having blocked a Labour-backed amendment that would have progressively eliminated the issue.

A future Labour Government has said it would implement measures that would force water companies to clean up their act and progressively end sewage dumping and the culture of water companies treating our natural environment as an open sewer.

Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue said: “That the Tories have allowed our communities to be treated as open sewers shows that they have no respect for places where people live, work and play.

“Communities in Makerfield should be able to just enjoy the place where they live without having to worrying about encountering filthy raw sewage.

“The next Labour Government will end the Tory sewage scandal, delivering mandatory monitoring on all sewage outlets, introducing automatic fines for discharges, setting ambitious targets for stopping systematic sewage dumping and ensuring that water bosses are held to account for negligence.”