Freshwater Parish Council Votes No Confidence In Southern Water

Freshwater Parish Council has unanimously voted no confidence in Southern Water over its handling of wastewater infrastructure and sewage issues affecting the West Wight.

The vote was taken at the council's Full Council meeting on Monday (7 July), with a formal letter sent to Southern Water Chief Executive Lawrence Gosden outlining the authority's concerns.

In the letter, council chair Cllr David Whistance says the decision reflects "serious and continuing concern" from residents over the impact of Southern Water's performance on bathing waters, public health, protected habitats, tourism, local businesses and public confidence.

The parish council is calling on Southern Water to publish a clear, site-specific improvement plan for Freshwater and the wider West Wight.

It says the plan should include timescales, funding commitments, infrastructure upgrades, maintenance work, measures to reduce storm overflows and regular progress reports so residents can see what is being done and when.

The council is also seeking greater transparency around storm overflows, emergency sewage releases, tankering operations, pump failures, network capacity, planned improvements and the causes of sewage alerts affecting local bathing waters.

In addition to Southern Water, the parish council is urging Ofwat, the Environment Agency, DEFRA, Isle of Wight Council, Natural England and the Island's MPs to work together to identify urgent action needed to protect residents, beaches, wildlife, tourism and public health.

The letter asks Southern Water to treat the correspondence as formal notification of the council's resolution and requests a written response within 28 days setting out what action the company intends to take.

Isle of Wight Radio has approached Southern Water for comment.