Local business owner plans beach protest after constant sea sewage alerts

By Max Goodman

30th Sep 2022 | Local News

Longe Cote UK class on Gyllynvase beach.
Longe Cote UK class on Gyllynvase beach.

Jo Radcliffe who runs the Business Longe Cote Uk uses the sea for water resistance exercise classes down on Gyllynvase beach, recently Jo has been sharing her frustration on social media about the number of sewage alerts.

Jo explained how bad it's been in recent times: "I've been doing classes for five years and this is the worst it's been, this month has been horrific! we had eleven alerts by the 8th of September I didn't know you could get more than one in a day."

"I've had to cancel or move sessions which have affected my business as it can be hard to contact people and let them know, normally I would have to cancel 2/3 a year because of the sewage with winds and rain but this year it's happened loads," Jo added

Jo now plans a protest after being disillusioned by the government, commenting: "We will be holding a protest as with Longe Cote U.K. & also she swims Falmouth on Sat 8th Oct 11 am, many of us email and tag relevant MPs every time there is a sewage alert on social media, it makes no difference."

Previous protests have taken place on Gylly beach organised by Surfers Against Sewage who update the alerts on their website, but Jo feels they are still not being heard: "a proposal from the Lords to the Environment Bill that would have placed legal duties on the companies to reduce discharges was voted down by the government recently. They do not have the local community's interest at heart; they are not representing us."

"We feel we have to keep this in local & national press to put pressure on those who can make changes. What else can we do? Children now have no local pool to swim in, the environment is being neglected, poisoned in fact, and personally, my business & others that rely on clean seas are suffering a great deal," Jo said.

Jayne Kirkham the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth also expressed concern after sharing Jo's post on social media, "We need faster and more decisive action on sewage discharges. The Conservatives haven't done it. They voted against it last October. We want to get into power so we can take stronger action and get those discharge outlets fixed quickly. The water companies will face immediate fines and mandatory monitoring until they do that under Labour."

Cherilyn Mackrory MP for Truro and Falmouth defended the government's actions: "The issue of water quality has been a top priority for me as local MP since my election, and I share the passion and drive of the people of Cornwall regarding the stopping of dumping sewage into our waterways."

"After two and a half years campaigning on this issue, last week I was pleased to welcome the details of the Government's sewage reduction plan which aims to leave the country's rivers and beaches cleaner and safer. There has been some misleading coverage in the media on this topic in recent times - but this Government is the first ever to implement a plan to tackle the impacts of storm overflows. Water companies will be required to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - with a mandatory £56 billion capital investment over 25 years to tackle storm sewage discharges."

Cherilyn also accepted that there is still more to be done despite the feeling that they have made progress, adding: "Having already increased the number of storm overflows monitored 15-fold from 5% in 2016 to almost 90% now monitored, this plan will mean we monitor 100% of storm overflows by next year. This means we can now actually see what's being dumped in our waters and when. I know there is more to do, and I will continue to press the Government as well as South West Water to tackle sewage overflows in every way we can."

     

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