I spent most of last Friday in the constituency wading through sewage. Not literally of course but dealing with the challenges of the East Worthing waste water treatment plant and the Shoreham houseboats.
Along with councillors, officers and representatives from DEFRA we were invited by Southern Water to see the investment they have made in the East Worthing plant especially after a chequered history with sewage spills in recent years. But we also had an interesting discussion about how we reduce water usage in the south-east, one of the most water deprived regions not just in the UK but across Europe.
Each of us uses 135 litres of water a day (don’t mention the bath!) 35 years ago that figure was 230 litres and Southern Water has launched a Target 100 campaign to bring it down to 100 litres. Consumption has certainly fallen since the introduction of water meters, but surely further incentives and helpful gadgets as well as a better awareness campaign are what is needed.
Straight after that visit I convened a meeting with the Environment Agency, Southern Water and representatives of the houseboat community from Shoreham to see if we could not resolve the long running issue of connecting the houseboats to the mains sewage rather than discharge waste into the harbour. Everyone agrees this would be a good idea but the expected costs have been prohibitive. Given the opportunity now provided by the Adur tidal defence scheme there is a chance to piggyback on that work and I am grateful to the EA and Southern Water who have agreed to see if they can come up with a new workable proposal.
The vandalism on Lancing Beach Green is becoming increasingly worrying and I went to see the damage at The Perch at first hand. It was particularly shocking to see evidence of pebble filled socks which had been used to target the windows in a clearly calculated attack. Frankly the ‘head in the sand’ response of the Parish Council responsible for Beach Green is pathetic and the police need to step up too. I have spoken to the Chief Inspector and I would urge everyone to attend the street surgery there on Sunday. I have also recorded a podcast with details of how local people can come forward and help nip this problem in the bud together with a short survey. You can find it in my latest constituency e-newsletter out this week or on my website together with a podcast about the Southern Water visit at www.timloughton.com