Southend West MP Anna Firth has warmly welcomed the Government’s newly published ‘Plan for Water’, which will see big improvements to water quality throughout England.
Anna has made improving water quality in Southend one of her top priorities since she was elected last February, working with local swimming groups and environmental organisations to ensure that improvements are made.
Anna has raised the issue of water quality six times now in the House of Commons chamber since she was elected last year, starting all the way back in April 2022, when she questioned the Environmental Quality Minister, Rebecca Pow, about what is being done to stop water companies discharging sewage into the Thames Estuary around Southend.
Since then Anna has persistently lobbied on this issue, holding meetings with DEFRA, Ministers and Anglian Water to ensure that effective action is taking place to improve water quality.
The new ‘Plan for Water’ includes a large number of measures designed to improve water quality, and greater punishments for water companies who continue to use storm overflow pipes. If companies fail, regulators will get more powers to impose much larger penalties for polluters without needing to go to court. Those penalties will go straight into the new Water Restoration Fund, which will support more projects that improve the environment
The plan also includes a commitment to banning plastic wet-wipes, which block sewers and often end up in rivers.
Anna was one of the first Members of Parliament to call on the government to ban the sale and manufacture of non-flushable wet-wipes. At last year’s Conservative Party Conference, Anna helped to launch the Conservative Environment Network’s Water Manifesto, which included a call for the Government to ban wet-wipes.
Commenting, Anna said:
"I am delighted that the Government has published a firm plan to improve our water quality! I am particularly pleased that the Government has adopted many of the recommendations included in the Conservative Environment Network’s Water Manifesto that I helped to launch last year.
I am really pleased that this new Plan will make sure water companies speed up their infrastructure upgrades – bringing forward £1.6 billion for work to start between now and 2025. I took Anglian Water to task on this when I met with them last week, and I will continue to keep the pressure on them to improve.
I am pleased that water companies will now see much larger fines for polluting our waterways, which will go a long way to reassuring everyone that they can use our wonderful beaches here in Southend safely.
I am especially pleased that the Government will be consulting on the ban on wet-wipes, something I have been calling for in Parliament for months. Plastic wet wipes block our pipes, flooding homes with sewage, releasing microplastics, and costing millions of pounds to clear up."
