MP welcomes landmark law to crack down on bosses polluting waterways in Penistone and Stocksbridge

Marie Tidball MP, Member of Parliament for Penistone and Stocksbridge, welcomes the Labour Government’s major new law to give regulators new powers over water company bosses who are polluting our rivers and lakes. This is the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.  

The Water (Special Measures) Bill delivers on Labour’s manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector. It significantly increases the ability of the Environment Agency ban bonuses for water bosses if they fail to meet high standards. The new law also imposes tougher penalties for law-breaking, including imprisonment for water bosses if companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.  

In 2023, the River Don had almost 1,400 spills from Yorkshire Water, totally 7,891 hours. Silkstone Beck, which runs from Silkstone Common towards Barnsley, and Highwood Dike, near Wortley, have also been subject to sewage dumping. In total over 2023, Yorkshire Water spilled sewage for over 18,000 hours across Sheffield’s waterways. 

Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including issuing quicker penalties, without lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.  

Marie Tidball MP, Member of Parliament for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said: 

“The Labour Government’s immediate action against this behaviour is very welcome, and demonstrates that we will not tolerate water executives lining their own pockets at the expense of our environment. 

Toxic sewage dumping from water companies affects our entire constituency, with the beautiful River Don and its tributaries running from Dunford Bridge, through Penistone and Stocksbridge, to all the way down past Oughtibridge. 

This Bill is a major step forward in fixing our broken water system. The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run, and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”