It is very hard to convey the anger felt by not just hundreds of thousands but millions of people at the mess the water companies have made over the past 30 years. I say “mess”, because that is what the public have had had to deal with – this is about sewage-filled seawater, dirty beaches, polluted rivers, chalk stream ecosystems destroyed and sometimes even E. coli in our water supply – while water companies have been amazingly efficient at siphoning off money for shareholders and employees Continue reading “Water Companies: Fines”
Tag: pollution
Water (Special Measures) Bill Report Stage
If we were talking about benefit claimants who had behaved in the way that water companies have, we would not just slap them on the wrist in the way that we have the water companies; we would crack down on them, claw back the money and take them to court. The water companies have got off so lightly in this whole process. That really does not seem fair to bill payers or to taxpayers. The water companies have been saying that they invest all the bill payers’ money in infrastructure, but they then take out loans and pay themselves dividends. With this legislation—even with the amendments—the Government are missing the opportunity to crack down on predatory capitalism. Continue reading “Water (Special Measures) Bill Report Stage”
Water Bill Committee Stage Day 3
This last weekend I joined tens of thousands of people marching for clean water in London Continue reading “Water Bill Committee Stage Day 3”
No Pollution Plan as heat creates Code Red alert for Eastern England
UK AIR (run by DEFRA) issued a Code Red for air pollution last night covering the East Midlands and Eastern region of England. This is for ozone, which is triggered by a chemical reaction in the air due to the heat,. Atmospheric conditions then trap the polluted air in a heat dome, stopping it from escaping upwards. DEFRA stopped issuing press releases for air pollution alerts in 2011, when the issue hit several front pages.
Continue reading “No Pollution Plan as heat creates Code Red alert for Eastern England”
Healthy rivers, healthy wildlife
Water companies have been urged to “shoulder their responsibilities” by researchers who found that “poor management” of sewage was the main source of microplastic pollution in UK rivers. Meanwhile, Greens in the Lords are considering putting an amendment to the Environment Bill banning water companies from pollluting rivers.
Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill launch
July 5th is the 62nd anniversary of the first Clean Air Act becoming law
Local people and communities around the country would be able to take legal action to defend their right to clean air if the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill I introduced today became law. This week’s air pollution episode throughout England and Wales illustrates how widespread the legal actions could become, as people seek to get corporations to change their behaviour and to force councils and government bodies to reduce pollution. Continue reading “Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill launch”


