Councillor Sean Macleod slams Southern Water for failing Newhaven

Lewes District Councillor for Ouse Valley and Ringmer Sean Macleod said people living in Denton, Newhaven, still have “sewage” in their back gardens, streets and alleyways two weeks after the area was flooded.

Cllr Macleod said the “sewage spills” have still not been cleaned up by the water company and said it should apologise to residents.

Cllr MacLeod told The Argus that the street floods “every year” but that this year had been the “worst” he had seen it.

The Liberal Democrat councillor also raised concerns earlier this month about “sewage” found on a footpath near the Texaco garage in Avis Way, Newhaven, following the deluges of heavy rain.

• Read more: Water company under fire after 'sewage spill' found on footpath

Southern Water apologised and confirmed it had sent teams to the site and the footpath had been cleaned and re-graded.

The spillage near Avis Way in Newhaven (Image: Sean Macleod)

Cllr Macleod has described his frustration with the company and has now called for the government to bring Southern Water into public ownership.

“It’s highly frustrating to the point I find it almost pointless contacting Southern Water,” he said.

“It is time the government brought Southern Water into public ownership, and it was held to account by the taxpayer as right now it fails residents, as not only is there sewage on our streets and in people’s gardens.

“Since the New Year, they have dumped 187 hours’ worth of sewage into the seas of Seaford and Newhaven according to their own website.

“We are only 30 days into it, just how bad do things have to get before this company is really held to account, Our MP just voted to allow this to continue and instead of getting stricter on these companies the legislation just got weaker.

• Read more: Council says there is 'no issue' with drainage in flooded road

“It is time Southern water held its hands up and apologized to the residents in Denton.

“The fire service, East Sussex Highways, Environment Agency and Lewes District Council all worked well together during the days of horrendous flooding and by what I can see only one organisation has really failed people.”

The road floods every year (Image: Sean Macleod)

MPs recently voted in favour of new targets for water companies to reduce sewage discharges by 80 per cent by 2038.

Sussex MPs who voted in favour were Maria Caulfield, Mims Davies, Nusrat Ghani, Nick Gibb, Andrew Griffith, Sally-Ann Hart, Gillian Keegan and Henry Smith.

A Southern Water spokesman said: "Months of significant rainfall has left the ground across the region waterlogged.

"Rivers have burst their banks, ground water has risen through unfortunate property owners’ basements, and roads have been closed.

"We know that flooding causes enormous distress to those involved, and we work closely with all agencies involved in preparing for such events, and cleaning up afterwards. 

"Our job is to ensure our sewers are flowing freely and our treatment sites are processing as much as they can and we’ve worked around the clock to ensure this is the case.

"Unfortunately, at times of significant volumes of surface water, over a prolonged period of time, there is nowhere else for the water to go. When there have been problems, we have responded swiftly. 

“We know that our past environmental performance has not been good enough, but we are investing £2bn between 2020-25 to improve our network. We are on course to cut pollution incidents by 40 per cent from 2019 to the end of this year, and by 80 per cent by the end of 2025.”