How Sussex locals can pick up a free ice cream - and help save local beaches from sewage

An ice cream van like no other will be appearing in Sussex this weekend.

Campaign group 38 Degrees will be visiting Eastbourne and Brighton's seafront to highlight the foul fate of our Great British beaches by handing out free sewage-themed ice cream.

In a bid to help the public to take action against sewage spills turning our beaches into open toilets, 38 Degrees is taking a poo(emoji)- covered ice cream van on tour with delicious free ice cream in a range of flavours, with poo-themed names and decorations.

At each stop, beach goers will be offered the chance to take action by signing a 38 Degrees petition, which has over 40,000 signatures from members of the public already, demanding that whoever becomes the next Prime Minister finally takes proper action to end sewage spills once and for all, by punishing polluting water companies.

Like parts of the coastline across Britain, people in Sussex have watched their beloved local beaches hit by the sewage crisis - in 2023, spills by Southern Water, which supplies Sussex, as well as Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, lasted for more than 317,000 hours.

Now, with the General Election campaign in full swing, they’ll have a chance to send a clear message to all parties: enough is enough, it’s time to make water companies clean up their mess.

Matthew McGregor, CEO, at 38 Degrees, said: “Summer holidays are around the corner - but our Great British Seaside is under threat, and we’ve had enough. That’s why 38 Degrees has brought our poo-themed ice cream van to the Sussex coast: to highlight how water companies are turning our beaches into open toilets, by transforming the classic seaside ice cream cone into ‘sewage sundaes’.

“Luckily, unlike Sussex's beautiful coastline, our ice creams won’t actually contain any human waste - but behind this silly stunt is a deadly serious point.

“The people of Sussex don’t want to swim in seas filled with sewage, let alone let their kids splash around in it. Whoever becomes our next Prime Minister has the chance to change that.

“We’ll be giving people the chance to have their voices heard on this huge national issue - and pick up a delicious treat while they’re at it.”

The van will be touring Eastbourne’s seafront on Saturday and will be in Brighton on Sunday.