Political opinion with Josh Babarinde MP: I’ve been working to oust the ‘poo castle pong!’

I first raised my concerns with Southern Water shortly after being elected last year. At the time, Southern Water responded by saying that their ‘air scrubbing system’ that is meant to tackle odour was experiencing issues and that it would take years to fix it.

This continued failure is not acceptable.

I therefore escalated the issue to Ofwat and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, urging them to investigate and take action.

In May, I raised the matter in the House of Commons, calling for swift and effective action to tackle this smell nuisance and for the Government to hold Southern Water accountable.

The following day, Southern Water’s Managing Director for Wastewater came to investigate…The power of Parliament!

Following the visit, Southern Water confirmed the following:

“We are currently undertaking some short-term work on-site related to the treatment process, which the team believe may have contributed to the odour issue.”

“Regarding a longer-term solution, we are also about to award a contract to an odour/air specialist to completely refurbish our odour and air treatment capabilities. This work is likely to begin this summer, with completion expected by January 2026.”

This acceleration in repairs is promising news and I thank the many residents who have contacted me on this, which has helped me to make the case.

I will keep up the pressure on Southern Water to ensure they are serious about honouring this timetable.

I continue to push them to clean up their act when it comes to dumping raw sewage along our coastline, and was pleased to vote in favour of a new law with powers to ban bonuses for polluting water company bosses who don’t clean up their act.