By Councillors urge a ‘state of emergency’ be called for Cleethorpes Beach
Labour councillors in North East Lincolnshire are urging for a ‘state of emergency’ to be called for Cleethorpes beach following poor water quality in rivers and coastlines.
Earlier this year people were told not swim in the water at the resort due to the poor water quality and a protest was held this weekend by locals who feel that not enough is being done to resolve the issue.
Wave to the Sea, the organisers of the nationwide protest, said: “‘The aim is to make a human chain of solidarity to express our dissatisfaction that raw sewerage is being pumped into our waters – profit is put before people and the planet.
“We are paying for a service, provide that service – we need our MP’s to vote to save our waters not vote with the water companies so they can make more profit at our waters expense.”
Labour councillors said Conservative MPs Martin Vickers and Lia Nici had not pushed the issue enough nationally.
Despite Labours calls, the Conservative administration rejected the proposed motion arguing that the Labour group were bringing in a national issue, and improvements in water quality were being made in England.
Labour opposition leader Matthew Patrick said when introducing the motion: “This year alone, more than 50 beaches gave warnings that the water was not safe to swim in as a consequence of raw sewage.
“On 17 August, the government issued a ‘pollution risk warning’ for the resort alongside the beaches at Humberston Fitties and Ingoldsmells South, and rather depressingly too, Cleethorpes this year lost its Blue Flag award, as the cleanliness of our water was downgraded, falling below a rating of excellent.”
At the start of September Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers urged the Environment Secretary to set more demanding targets on the water companies to reduce the number of sewage discharges.
In a statement after his visit to the House of Commons, Mr Vickers said: “The Government has done an enormous amount to identify discharges, until 2016 only 5% of discharges were monitored now it is 90%. We now need to ensure that those responsible have targets to reduce the number. That can’t be done just by passing resolutions as the opposition parties seem to think but by ensuring the necessary investment takes place as quickly as possible.”
