Park protest at sewage pollution
Hundreds gather to show opposition to water companies
AT least 200 people gathered in Victoria Park on Sunday to protest against sewage polluting West Berkshire’s waterways.
A coalition of representatives from the Kennet Catchment River Keepers (KCRA), Action for the River Kennet (ARK) and the Angling Trust addressed frustrated crowds from the bandstand about the thousands of hours’ worth of sewage pouring into the district’s precious chalk streams – and called on the Government to take action against Thames Water.
Local politicians also discussed the health and environmental concerns of sewage discharges and explained how their parties plan to fix the issue if elected to power come the General Election.
Speakers included Conservative MP for Newbury Laura Farris; former West Berkshire Council leader Lee Dillon, the Liberal Democrat prospective Parliamentary candidate for Newbury; Labour prospective Parliamentary candidate for Reading West and Mid Berkshire Olivia Bailey; and Baroness Jenny Jones, of the Green Party.
Actor James Murray, who played Prince Andrew in Netflix’s The Crown, spoke as the founder of Activist Anglers.
Mrs Farris said: “One of the principal polluting spots in this constituency is the Hampstead Norreys Treatment Works.
“They [Thames Water] had a plan to start an upgrade of that [facility], which would completely eliminate sewage [leaks] in 2026.
“We’ve got them now through political pressure to bring that forward to this year.”
Angling Trust’s head of policy Martin Salter, who served as Labour MP for Reading West from 1997 to 2010, added: “Will the politicians listen; will the politicians act?
“Part of the purpose of these protests is to put pressure both on the political system and on the water industry itself.
“We want this issue to be front and foremost in people’s minds when they come to vote at the next election.”
KCRA chairman Sam Marshall said: “Our water services industry is not only broken but also completely unregulated.
“The governing bodies that should be prosecuting and protecting our waterways are so underfunded they are nonexistent.”
Senior project officer for ARK Anna Forbes added: “Our water quality testing produced very concerning ammonia, phosphate and bacteria results.
“We want to see long-term solutions, not the expensive sticking plaster reactive responses happening at the moment.”
Environment communications officer for the Angling Trust Peter Devery has been campaigning locally about this issue for the past two years.
He said: “Just this year alone, we’ve had about 1,500 hours of sewage pollution going into the River Pang.
“And despite what some of our local politicians say, the problem is not fixed. The problem is far from fixed.”
The trust’s head of campaigns, Stuart Singleton White, added: “For the last four years, we’ve been running the ‘Anglers Against Pollution’ campaign.
“As part of that, we have developed well over 650 anglers across the country who are regularly using citizen science to monitor the quality of their rivers.
“They’re testing on a regular basis and we’re using that data to hold water companies, the Environment Agency and the Government to account.”
Spectators – many directly affected by sewage flooding their homes and gardens – demanded their politicians hold Government to account and to nationalise Thames Water.
Baroness Jones echoed their
cries, blasting the “vulture capitalism” which leaves ordinary people out of pocket.
She said: “We will have to negotiate the debt, that’s true, but it’s still cheaper than to keep it functioning, because it’s not functioning at the moment.
“Make them public, take them over and good riddance.”
The protest lasted about an hour.
■ You can visit newburytoday to watch a video report from the protest.