West Wight Councils Declare No Confidence In Southern Water

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Freshwater Parish Council and Yarmouth Town Council have both passed votes of no confidence in Southern Water, citing growing concerns over the company's performance across the West Wight.

The moves come ahead of a debate at County Hall next week, where Isle of Wight councillors are due to consider a similar motion calling for stronger enforcement, greater transparency and tougher consequences for what has been described as Southern Water's "continued failure".

The debate follows a public petition that has attracted more than 2,500 signatures.

In a letter to Southern Water Chief Executive Lawrence Gosden, Freshwater Parish Council said its unanimous decision reflected "serious and continuing concern" among residents over the impact of wastewater management on bathing waters, public health, protected habitats, tourism, local businesses and public confidence.

The council is calling on Southern Water to publish a detailed, site-specific improvement plan for Freshwater and the wider West Wight, setting out timescales, funding commitments, infrastructure upgrades, maintenance works, plans to reduce storm overflows and regular progress updates.

It is also seeking greater transparency over issues including storm overflow discharges, emergency sewage releases, tankering operations, pump failures, network capacity, planned upgrades and the reasons behind repeated bathing water pollution alerts.

Freshwater Parish Council has further urged Southern Water, Ofwat, the Environment Agency, DEFRA, the Isle of Wight Council, Natural England and the Island's two MPs to work together to identify urgent action needed to protect residents, the environment and the Island's tourism industry.

Yarmouth Town Council backed its own vote of no confidence earlier this week following a report from Isle of Wight councillor Becca Cameron.

Councillor Cameron said:

"Freshwater Parish Council and Yarmouth Town Council have now both made the same point very clearly: communities in the West Wight have lost confidence in Southern Water.

"Residents are living with repeated sewage alerts, beach warnings, tankering, flooding concerns and vague assurances about infrastructure upgrades, while being asked to trust a system they can see is not working.

"In a parish so aptly named Freshwater, and in coastal communities like Yarmouth, clean water is part of our identity, our environment, our tourism economy and our public health.

"Warm words are no longer enough. The West Wight and the whole Island need action. If that action is not delivered, then regulators and government must be prepared to intervene and ensure there are real consequences for continued failure."

A spokesperson for Southern Water said the company takes the concerns seriously and remains committed to rebuilding trust with communities on the Isle of Wight.

They said Chief Executive Lawrence Gosden met with Isle of Wight councillors last month and has since outlined commitments to reduce sewage spills, improve infrastructure and increase transparency.

Southern Water says it plans to invest more than £67 million across the Isle of Wight to improve environmental performance, including significant investment in the West Wight.

The company also says further work to reduce storm overflows in the area will be announced as part of a wider £20 million programme of investigations and improvements on the Island.