Thames Water fine 'should be spent on River Kennet clean up'
The River Kennett is a chalk stream that runs from Avebury down to Reading where it joins the River Thames.Arc runs a nature reserve in the area for outreach work and children's education days, which is frequently flooded with sewage.It flows from nearby treatment works and also regularly spills out of manhole covers, Arc said.Charlotte Hitchmough, Arc's director, told BBC Wiltshire: "I hope that these fines from the water companies are ring fenced to undo the environmental damage that's been caused - because Ofwat were clear that the lion's share of that fine was for failure to treat sewage properly."
But she warned that as it stands, wastewater infrastructure in the area operated by Thames Water is in "a desperate state".She said the use of emergency measures such as tankers to ferry sewage to treatment works, or temporary treatment units to pump water directly out of sewers for cleaning, were "completely unsustainable"."This isn't the behaviour of a responsible, well run company. This is desperate fire fighting," she said.
James Wallace, chief executive of campaign group River Action, said it was good to see the government enforcing sewage laws, but pointed out the fine is only a tiny fraction of Thames Water's £22bn debt.He called on the government to put the company "out of its misery" and revoke its licence to operate.Mr Wallace said the government had a number of mechanisms at its disposal to bring Thames Water under its direct control, such as placing it in special measures.Ultimately he wants to see an end to the privatisation of the water industry."We know that the privatisation experiment since 1989 has failed abjectly because of all the pollution and all of these debts that have accrued," he said.Mr Wallace said there were numerous models for running water companies such as nationalisation, placing them under the control of local authorities, or turning them into not-for-profit entities."What we need to do is take action," he said.
Speaking earlier this year, Environment Secretary Steve Reed agreed that the water sector in England and Wales "urgently needs fixing".But he ruled out nationalisation, saying it would cost up to £100bn, adding that waterways would continue to be polluted while private ownership structures were unpicked.Instead, the government wants private investment to upgrade the sewerage system and reservoirs.Following the Thames Water fine on Wednesday, Mr Reed added: "The government has launched the toughest crackdown on water companies in history."The era of profiting from failure is over. The government is cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas for good."
'Already made progress'
A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously and note that Ofwat acknowledges we have already made progress to address issues raised in the investigation relating to storm overflows."The dividends were declared following a consideration of the Company's legal and regulatory obligations."Our lenders continue to support our liquidity position and our equity raise process continues."
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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Gangs promoting small boats crossings on social media face jail under new crackdown
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Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
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BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
New offence to target online posts for small-boat Channel crossings
People advertising illegal Channel crossings online could face up to five years in prison under a new offence the government plans to offence, which the government is seeking to create under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently going through Parliament, would form part of a crackdown on the number of migrants coming to the UK on small illegal immigration to the UK is already a crime, but officials believe the offence would give police and other agencies more power to disrupt criminal out last week showed more than 25,000 migrants have arrived in the UK via small boats in 2025 so far, a record for this point in the year. BBC on French beach as police slash migrant 'taxi-boat' heading to UKHow many people cross the Channel in small boats?A decade of small boat migrants - how did it begin?Why do Channel migrants want to come to the UK? The new UK-wide offence would criminalise the creation of material for publication online, which promotes or offers services that facilitate a breach of UK immigration law. This would include people using social media to advertise fake passports or visas, or the promise of illegal work opportunities in the UK, and as well as jail time could carry a large fine. According to analysis by the Home Office, around 80% of migrants arriving in the UK via a small boat have told officials they used social media during their journey, including to contact agents linked to people-smuggling Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country - whether on or offline - simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral."These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them."The National Crime Agency (NCA) already works with social media companies to target online posts promoting organised immigration crime, with more than 8,000 posts taken down in NCA has taken action against a number of people-smuggling gangs where social media accounts have been used to promote crossings.A network operated by Preston-based smuggler Amanj Hasan Zada, who was jailed for 17 years, posted videos of migrants thanking him for helping director general of operations Rob Jones said the proposed new offence would give them more options to target gangs and their business Home Office said cases of Albanian people-smugglers, who have used social media platforms to promote £12,000 "package deals" to Britain including accommodation and employment upon arrival, would be within the scope of the proposed offence. Policing minister Diana Johnson said the law would be drafted to enable "extra-territorial reach" which would mean that if an advert was produced abroad and the perpetrator then travelled to the UK then authorities in the UK "would be able to deal with them".She added: "We will be working, as we have done for many months now, with authorities in other countries, to hold these people to account, to close down these criminal gangs, to stop this business model."But the Conservatives said the plan was "too little, too late".Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "Tinkering at the edges won't fix the problem."He added that the Conservative Deportation Bill would allow police and other agencies to "remove illegal arrivals immediately and remove them without delay". No 10 wants to work more closely with France to reduce the crossings.A deal was struck in early July between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to send some migrants who arrive on small boats back to every migrant returned, France would send an asylum seeker to the UK - potentially one with a family connection to critics pointed out this would involve a tiny proportion of those currently crossing, and questioned whether the scheme would deter government has also toughened up rules to make it almost impossible for anyone arriving in the UK on a small boat to become a British citizen.
