A Labour Freedom of Information request has shown that Northumbrian Water raw sewage discharge has increased by more than 1,000 percent since 2016, says Northumberland Labour

Northumberland Labour says it’s shocked by the result of a Labour Freedom of Information request which shows a dramatic increase in the amount of raw sewage being discharged into the county’s rivers and sea.

Labour spokesperson said: “Our rivers and sea are the pride of the county, attracting local people and visitors for recreation and leisure. The result of this FOI request is extremely disturbing, with the potential to spoil  areas of natural beauty and risk public health.”

Analysis of Environment Agency figures obtained under Freedom of Information requests by the party, shows that since 2016 raw sewage has been pumped into Northumbrian Water’s area natural environment for a total of 551,851 hours.

This equates to a duration of 22,993 days or 62 years of sewage discharge taking place across the Northumbrian Water area; with a raw sewage spill somewhere in the Northumbrian Water area every 23 minutes.

They added: “This highlights that the situation is only drastically worsening under the Tories who cut two-thirds of the Environment Agency grant, which covers environmental surveillance and enforcement.

“It’s yet another example of where the government  has thought, quite wrongly, that if they cut surveillance companies will do the right thing.

“Here we have a government that shelved sewage discharge reduction plans at the beginning of August but has since had to do a u-turn due to mounting public pressure. Surely the issue of a clean, safe environment is paramount?”