Hastings MP hands in Surfers Against Sewage petition at Downing Street

The petition calls for an end to a privatised water system and demands action to fix the ‘sewage scandal’ which has seen raw sewage contaminating bathing water in Hastings and Bexhill.

As a member of the Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament, Ms Dollimore said she had been very critical of Southern Water’s sewage dumping in the sea.

Southern Water released millions of tiny plastic beads from its Eastbourne wastewater treatment plant which washed up along the coastline at Camber Sands and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve causing an environmental catastrophe.

Southern Water has also come under fire from the MP after she said it released sewage from the Pelham overflow off the coast of St Leonards in August at the first sign of rainfall following 60 days of near-drought conditions.

Julie Maughan, the mother of eight-year-old Heather Preen, who tragically died from an aggressive E. coli infection after coming into contact with contaminated water on a Devon beach in 1999 and whose story inspired Channel 4’s Dirty Business, joined the group in handing in the petition to No.10.

Ms Dollimore said: “Southern Water's destruction of our way of life as a seaside community should never have been allowed to happen. Just recently they began pumping sewage into our sea after 60 days of drought. Enough is enough. We must put people before profit and bring water under public control.”

Giles Bristown, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage said: “Andy Burnham must take back control and restructure the sector so that it operates for people and planet, not greedy shareholders. With bold decision-making and action from our government, we can build a water industry that operates for public good and that restores the places we love to swim, surf and play in.”

The Observer has invited Southern Water to comment.