Labour Councillors have again called out Southern Water for dumping sewage into our local sea waters.

Last year, Labour’s co-leader of the opposition, Cllr John Allcock caught headlines by describing ‘Southern Water’ as a ‘byword for environmental pollution and foul play’, in his critical intervention regarding sewage dumping by private water companies.

Now, Labour’s chair of the council’s health overview and scrutiny committee, Cllr Clare Moonan, has called for an independent audit to assess the cleanliness of our seas.

Cllr Moonan said: “Public confidence is low… what we really need is for people to know the water is clean.

“This problem is something we will want to keep challenging. We have got to try to work together and find some solutions.”

Labour’s Cllr Moonan also criticised Southern Water for failing to regulate itself, and suggested it cannot be trusted to ensure our water quality is good without independent auditors.

This is an issue Labour will not back down on. Our Councillors will continue to speak truth to power, and if privatised public services continue to fail in their duties to serve the public, we will campaign for them to be brought into public ownership.