Agenda item - Notice of Motion

Notice of the attached Motion has been submitted in accordance with Standing Order number 10(2). The Council’s attention is drawn to Standing Order number 10, which deals with the disposal of Motions.

The Motion is proposed by Councillor Angela Turner and seconded by Councillor David Howarth.

1. The Leader of the Council will write to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs calling on the government to:

i) Set meaningful targets and deadlines for water companies to end sewage discharges.

ii) Introduce a sewage tax on water company profits to fund the clean up of waterways.

iii) Reduce the number of licences given to water companies permitting them to discharge sewage into rivers.

iv) Strengthen Ofwat’s powers to hold companies accountable and implement the Labour Party proposal to place the water industry under ‘special measures’:

A) Ensuring that water bosses will face personal criminal liability for extreme and persistent lawbreaking.

B) Introducing severe & automatic fines for illegal discharges that water companies cannot ignore

C) Forcing all water companies to monitor every single water outlet

D) Banning the payment of bonuses to water bosses who are found to pump significant levels of raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.”

v) Cease making cuts to Environmental Agency funding and ensure that it has enough staff to significantly improve its monitoring of the threats of inadequate storm-water infrastructure and pollution from sewage and agricultural nitrates.

vi) Work with local authorities to ensure water companies protect our rivers by a requirement to invest upfront in sewerage infrastructure to reflect environmental objectives in local plans and planning applications.

Councillor Ange Turner proposed a notice of motion, seconded by Councillor David Howarth that raised concern at the level of raw sewage spills in South Ribble.

Councillor Turner explained that water companies, such as United Utilities, were continuing to release raw sewage into public waterways and it needed to be stopped with mandatory targets and timescales for the spills to be stopped.

Councillor Matthew Tomlinson proposed an amendment to the motion, seconded by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Paul Foster that sought to make the following amendments;

“After ‘Strengthen Ofwat’s powers to hold water companies accountable.’

Insert the following; “and implement the Labour Party Proposal to place the water industry under ‘special measures’

a) Ensuring that water bosses will face personal criminal liability for extreme and persistent lawbreaking.

b) Introducing severe & automatic fines for illegal discharges that water companies cannot ignore

c) Forcing all water companies to monitor every single water outlet

d) Banning the payment of bonuses to water bosses who are found to pump significant levels of raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.

And

Change the wording of the closing statement from “Council resolves to write to the government’ to ‘Council asks the Leader to write to the government.’

The following members participated in the debate on the amendment: Councillors Paul Foster, Will King, Phil Smith, Matthew Farnworth, Damian Bretherton, Karen Walton, Jacky Alty, David Howarth, Matthew Tomlinson

Councillor Matthew Tomlinson highlighted during the debate that he thought the letter would be stronger if it came from the Leader of the Council and the notice of motion was written by himself.

Councillor Howarth indicated that the amendment was accepted by his group as proposers of the motion.

A vote was taken on the substantive motion which had adopted and included the amended wording and was subsequently,

Resolved: (For: 31, Against: 10 and Abstain: 3)