The government’s new plan to crack down on sewage discharge by 2050 has been branded a “cruel joke” and “licence to pump sewage on to our beaches”.
The Department for the Environment (DEFRA) said on Friday that water companies will have to deliver £56bn of capital investment over the next 25 years to stop untreated sewage spilling into the UK’s seas and rivers.
There have been growing calls to strip water company bosses of their multimillion-pound bonuses after outrage at how much sewage is being pumped into the sea.
Under the plan, firms will have until 2035 to improve how they manage all the sewage overflows discharging next to bathing water, and improve 75% of the overflows at top nature sites. By 2050, this will apply to all waterways.
The government said it was introducing the “strictest ever targets” to crack down on sewage spills.
But the Lib Dems branded the plan a “cruel joke” and claimed it will result in 325,000 sewage dumps a year by 2030.
The party’s…
