MP slams ‘insufficient’ government response as sewage spills in Yeovil top 1,900 times in a year

Adam Dance, Member of Parliament for Yeovil, has today criticised the Government’s response to his Parliamentary Written Question on Wessex Water pollution, describing the promised increase in Environment Agency inspections as "wholly insufficient" given the scale of sewage discharge in the Yeovil constituency.

Adam’s question to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asked what steps were being taken to help reduce pollution incidents from Wessex Water’s sewerage assets in Somerset.

In response, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Flooding, Emma Hardy MP, highlighted an increase in inspection teams and noted that the number of Wessex Water asset inspections within the Yeovil constituency would rise from six last year to twenty-two this year.

However, Adam Dance MP argues this minor increase is dwarfed by the crisis gripping local waterways. Analysis of 2024 data from the House of Commons Library reveals that Yeovil saw:

• 1,940 total sewage spills from storm overflows.
• Discharges lasting a total of 16,677 hours.

Commenting on the response, Adam said:

"While I welcome any increase in inspections, the Government’s reply sounds like a bureaucratic pat on the back rather than a credible plan to stop Wessex Water polluting our rivers. When raw sewage is spilled into our local environment 1,940 times in a single year, lasting for over sixteen thousand hours, an increase of sixteen extra inspections is frankly insulting. It is a drop in the ocean compared to the volume of filth being dumped.

"The Government is only promising to check up on Wessex Water after the damage has been done. What we need are preventative measures, immediate enforcement, and a total reform of the system that allows these companies to operate with impunity.

"The Liberal Democrats are clear: we must stop this sewage scandal now. We need a legally-binding sewage cleanup plan, we must ban bonuses for water company bosses until discharges end, and we must replace the failing Environment Agency with a tough new regulator that has the powers to put water quality before profit. It is time to get tough on these polluters, not just count how many times they ruin our environment."

Mr. Dance confirmed he will continue to press the Government for stronger legislative action to protect Somerset’s waterways from excessive and harmful sewage discharges.