To consider the following motion in the name of Councillor Gwynne:
That Members note that Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council which we serve is named after and held together by the River Tame that runs through our communities. It has allowed our towns to grow and flourish, bringing industry and prosperity to the population over the centuries. Now, it is a vital part of our green estate, providing recreation along its banks, wildlife and glimpses of our heritage. We are rightly proud of our river, and united in our desire to protect it. We call on United Utilities and the Environment Agency to work with us to prevent the ongoing polluting of the River Tame, and help to clean up this waterway.
That this Council notes:
A recent article in the Times highlighted that the River Tame has the dubious honour of having the highest microplastic concentration of any watercourse in the world and the situation is getting worse, not better. The root cause of this pollution is the often-illegal discharge of raw sewage into the river from United Utilities.
Speaking in the Times, Professor of physical geography at Manchester University Jamie Woodward states that there “is much concern that illegal discharges of sewage are now the norm across the industry in England” and that “regulation is utterly ineffective because the Environment Agency is underfunded, and their leadership has set its priorities elsewhere. The Environment Agency is failing in its duty to police the health of our rivers”.
Since 2010 United Utilities along with every water company have been allowed to self-report their discharges. United Utilities are one of the most prolific sewage dumpers, discharging the equivalent of 12-weeks continuous flow between July 2019 and June 2020, although they dispute these figures and state that it is only the equivalent of six continuous weeks.
A Private Members Bill entitled “Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill 2019-21” introduced by Philip Dunne MP on 5th February 2020 proposed to amend the “Water Industry Act 1991” and place a duty on water companies to ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers or other inland water bodies. This Bill fell away with the prorogation of Parliament but has now been introduced in an amended format to the House of Lord’s by the Duke of Wellington.
Intermittent discharging into waterways has been permitted under specific circumstances, but privatised water companies have been fined record amounts for unlawful discharges outside of these provisions.
And that this Council therefore RESOLVES:
· To ask the Chief Executive to write to George Eustice, Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs expressing this council’s support for the Duke of Wellington’s Bill and ask him to support the provisions outlined within. To further ask the Secretary of State to make the case for increased funding to The Environment Agency to allow them to effectively enforce environmental legislation
· Noting that the Environment and Climate Emergency Working Group have requested United Utilities appear before them to explain their current position, to urge United Utilities to make senior officers available at their earliest convenience
· To ask the Chief Executive to write to The Environment Agency asking for an explanation of why the regulatory framework has failed to prevent the River Tame suffering the highest level of microplastics in the world.