Councillors call for planning change over sewage dumping
Local Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for a change to planning rules that better reflects the impact on rivers and sewers, ahead of a crunch Town Council meeting on the topic this evening.
One issue with sewage that hasn’t hit the headlines is the impact of wide-scale housing development. Shropshire Council is persevering with its programme of 30,800 new dwellings without any apparent concern about this dire situation, impacting the local ecology and public health.
The Shropshire Water Cycle Study in 2020 scored Shrewsbury RED on a RAG rating for overall sewerage network, with 2510 anticipated new houses and 7304 new people at that time. Early engagement with Severn Trent Water Company was required to ensure that provision of Waste Water Treatment Works capacity is aligned with delivery of development. Councillors are now asking where is the outcome of that engagement?
Councillor Bernie Bentick said:
“ Despite the Environment Agency stating that the Rea Brook is an important refuge for key biodiversity action plan species, in 2021, there were 339 recorded spills into the Rea Brook for a total of 3886 hours, including 4 Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) upstream of Meole; 2 in Hanwood plus Hookagate and Bayston Hill.
“This contributed to a total of 1559 recorded spills for almost 24,000 hours either directly into the River Severn or via its tributaries, from sewage flow exceeding capacity, related to insufficient investment in and maintenance of our existing sewage system.
“This is without considering the thousands of new homes built or due to be built in Shrewsbury between 2016 and 2038. This is a crime gainst our environment and a public health scandal, which must be stopped"
Councillor Alex Wagner added:
“The water quality in the loop of the Severn is disgracefully poor. It is hard to see how development on huge scale, as Shropshire Council are proposing, can do anything but make it worse in a flooding-hit county like ours. We need to get a hold of this issue and there need to be changes to planning rules around this - for example, making water companies consultees on development proposals and obliged to share their views on the impact they will have.”
