Western Morning News (Saturday)
We must protect our environment
Simon Jupp MP says we must all look after our countryside, rivers and coastline
YOU just can’t beat going for a walk in East Devon to help blow the cobwebs away. I went on a decent stomp around Mutters Moor near Sidmouth over the weekend and thoroughly recommend it! The views of the town, plus the parish of Newton Poppleford and Harpford, are breathtakingly beautiful.
We must do all we can to protect our countryside, rivers and coastline. I live close to the sea in Sidmouth and have relentlessly campaigned for investment in our water infrastructure. In the last few weeks, I was delighted to see multi-million-pound plans to upgrade Sidmouth and Tipton St John’s sewage system unveiled by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
Back in February, I led a debate on the performance of South West Water in Parliament. Whilst this Conservative government has brought in the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills, it is simply unacceptable that we pay the highest sewerage bills in the country but still witness an all too frequent use of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). They are supposed to be available in an emergency, not used whenever the system can’t cope due to a lack of investment. South West Water should upgrade their systems instead of rewarding bonuses.
The Environment Act and Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan backs this up, introduced to ensure that water companies face strict limits on when they can use storm overflows. WaterFit Live, a new website from South West Water, is a useful tool to help monitor the use of these CSOs across our shores so we can hold failing companies to account. It currently shares information about water quality in our area but sadly won’t provide real-time data until later this year.
Sidmouth and Tipton St John are set to receive a share of £70 million from SWW’s own coffers for infrastructure upgrades to help improve bathing water quality by reducing storm overflows. On top of this, £3.1 million is also being invested at the Axminster-Kilmington water treatment site, which will help reduce nutrient pollution to further protect East Devon’s waterways. I also want to see investment in Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton. I won’t stop my calls for change until SW Water clean up their act and our water.
As I wandered around the heathland on Mutters Moor, I was also thinking about the role our farmers play in looking after our countryside. Last month, I had the pleasure of welcoming the Farming Minister, Mark Spencer MP, to Ottery St Mary to meet local farmers. It was a roundtable event with dairy, livestock, and horticultural farmers discussing the opportunities and challenges facing the agricultural sector.
My commitment to farmers is clear. I don’t come from farming stock, but I want to help get your voices heard in Westminster. The government is focusing new support packages on ways farmers can produce food and protect the environment, but I recognise this is a huge change for the industry and I’m committed to helping farmers feedback to government. As part of my work supporting our rural and farming communities, later this month I’m holding another roundtable with the Rural Payments Agency and National Farmers Union. If you work in the industry and want to pop along, get in touch.
After I’d finished my walk on Sunday, I popped into my local in Sidmouth – the superb Volunteer Inn – for a quick pint. Less than 24 hours later, I’m back in Westminster. It feels a million miles away, but it really shouldn’t. I’m really pleased to see many local schools take the opportunity to visit Parliament; it’s not something I was ever given the opportunity to do. It’s why I’ve made sure to meet students from Cranbrook Education Campus, Broadclyst Primary School and Colyton Grammar School when they’ve visited recently. I also run a work experience programme in my office – for more information please get in touch.
Monday: Columnist Judi Spiers gives us her weekly unique take on Westcountry life