Southern Water: 'We’re working to improve our engagement with the local community'
Southern Water (SW) said it is ‘working to improve our engagement with the local community’ ahead of another meeting with senior staff.
The water company said it will hold another meeting with Sovereign Harbour and Langney Point residents ‘towards the end of May’.
Locals challenged SW bosses over odours caused by the company’s wastewater treatment plant – known as ‘Poo Castle’ – in a meeting in February.
Staff opened the meeting by saying ‘we really have let Eastbourne down’, and took the opportunity to update residents on improvements they planned in the near future.
Perhaps most notably, John Penicud, managing director for wastewater at SW, told residents the company ‘are going to be easier to get in contact with through the website’.
One resident said they had ‘report fatigue’, and compared the current process to ‘walking through treacle’.
Mr Penicud said: “We have chosen ten different sites around the network and it’s about monitoring more, not just on the treatment works but around, to see what [hydrogen sulphide] levels we’re dealing with around the network, and if we need to do anything more.
"We’ll be making this public on our website, so residents can see real time readings.
"People will also be able to contact us directly to check reports of odour against live data.”
The Eastbourne Herald asked SW if it had followed up on this promise.
An SW spokesperson said: “We are currently designing a dedicated webpage, which we expect to be live within the next two months.
"This will make it easier for customers to report odour issues at Eastbourne and see information about our future investment plans.
“We’re working to improve our engagement with the local community and stakeholders in the area.
"As part of this we’re looking to hold a further meeting towards the end of May which will be confirmed in due course.”
MP Josh Babarinde said he will ‘continue to hold [Southern Water’s] feet to the fire’.
He said: “I have been pressing for direct compensation for affected households for some time and will continue to do so.
“However, I’m glad we have made progress by pushing Southern Water to explore Community Payback initiatives, including funding to get the much-loved Splash Pad reopened this summer.
“Their commitment to provide funding this year is welcome, but there is still a long way to go.
“I will continue to hold their feet to the fire and will be urging for this support to be extended into next year.”