Since my letter of January 20 regarding Flick Drummond’s deplorable voting record, her latest leaflet arrived, headlined with a denial that she had voted to allow sewage dumping to continue.

The facts are that, in October 2021, she and 267 colleagues voted against Lords Amendment 45 to the Environment Bill. It proposed a new duty on water companies to demonstrate progressive reductions in harm caused. Harm, for instance, like the “emergency” dumping, which Southern Water recently planned to inflict on the Test at Chilbolton until concerted public pressure forced a rethink.

As recently as January 25, Mrs Drummond and 291 colleagues also voted to permit the practice until 2038 and beyond. Her Government has yet to define a date by which illegal overflows must cease altogether.

She talks of a £3.1bn investment since 2020 and completely ignores the fact that the water companies were sold unencumbered yet, by 2022, had been saddled with £54bn of debt. That now costs the average customer an estimated £80/year in higher bills. Meanwhile, £66bn has been paid out in dividends, money which could have been invested in water and sewage infrastructure, so preventing the crisis from ever occurring. Meanwhile, our bills are rising by more than inflation.

To summarise Mrs Drummond’s position, dumping will be difficult and very expensive to stop, so she has no choice but to vote to allow it to continue for a very long time.

The new Environment Act undoubtedly contains some good measures, but they are half-hearted, and timescales for remedying the issues and stopping the discharges are indeterminate.

Mrs Drummond has never voted to stop sewage discharges.

Frank Devoy,

Hillside Close,

Teg Down,

Winchester

 

 

Send letters by email to newsdesk@hampshirechronicle.co.uk or by post to Editor, Hampshire Chronicle, 5 Upper Brook Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8AL.

All letters and e-mails must include full names and addresses (anonymous letters will not be published), although these details may be withheld from publication, on request.

Letters of 300 words or less will be given priority, although all are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, or legal requirements. We reserve the right to edit letters.