No doubt many Observer readers will already be aware of the shocking news around the discharge of raw sewage both locally and nationally.

Shocking figures show that on average, Crawley’s waste water provider Thames Water discharged raw sewage every 47 minutes.

None of these figures include ones for Southern Water, which were arguably even worse, but should give an idea of the sheer scale of the problem.

Analysis of Environment Agency figures obtained under Freedom of Information requests by Labour, shows that since 2018, raw sewage has been pumped into the Thames Water area’s natural environment for a total of 506,294 hours, impacting popular tourist and bathing spots, spoiling areas of natural beauty and risking public health.

Cumulatively, this equates to a duration of 21,095 days or 57 years of sewage discharge, a damning indictment of 12 years of Tory failure to hold water bosses to account.

The data also points to a 791% increase in the number of monitored discharge hours, between 2018 and 2021. This highlights that the situation is only drastically worsening under the Tories, and a consequence of their two-thirds budgetary cut to the Environment Agency, which covers environmental surveillance and enforcement.

Between 2018 and 2021, there were 44,508 spill events. This equates to a shocking average of a sewage spill taking place every 47 minutes over a 3-year period, a 623% increase.

This comes amid revelations that the zombie Tory government shelved sewage discharge reduction plans at the beginning of August – but has since u-turned due to mounting public pressure.

Tory MPs, including the MP for Crawley Henry Smith, that voted against putting a stop to raw sewage discharge must explain to their constituents why they failed to protect their local beauty spots.

Thanks to them every gallon of effluent currently on our beaches is there lawfully and they’re up to their necks in it.

Labour will clean up the Tories’ mess by ensuring water bosses are held accountable both legally and financially for their recklessness, through enforcement of unlimited fines, and tougher regulations that prevent them from gaming the system.

Cllr Michael Jones,

Leader, Crawley Borough Council