Yorkshire Water brings forward plans to tackle sewage discharges into sea at Scarborough

YW says this will reduce discharges – there was a total of 65 in 2021 and 2022 combined – to two in the bathing water season from March to September, and 10 per year.

YW will be increasing storage within the network to slow the flow of wastewater during periods of prolonged or heavy rainfall.

Work is expected to begin in April 2024 and be completed ahead of the 2025 bathing water season.

Steve Crawford owns and runs Fluid Concept Surf School, which has been shut since May because of poor water quality and warnings against bathing in South Bay. He said a proper study by the Environment Agency was still needed to figure out the reasons for the “poor” rating, adding: “It’s really good news but we want to make sure that South Bay is a bathing water that we can actually use. We want to see the money spent in the right place.”

Councillor Rich Maw welcomed the move but said residents shouldn’t have to pay extra for YW’s five-year investment plan. Bills will rise by almost £150 a year by 2030 as additional funding is needed to upgrade the sewage network and reduce discharges.

He said: “It’s good that YW has finally recognised it has a problem, but in a cost of living crisis it is simply not acceptable that struggling families are expected to subsidise wealthy shareholders to implement improvements that should already have been completed.”

YW said the £2.8m investment, approved by Ofwat in June, would not impact on customer’s bills.

Ben Roche, director of wastewater, said the Wheatcroft project was a small part of wider plans to invest £1.4bn in reducing discharges by 2030: “We know across all Yorkshire’s bathing waters that there is more to do to improve water quality. We continue to work with North Yorkshire Council and the EA to identify the opportunities to improve the water quality in the South Bay at Scarborough but want to ensure that storm overflows aren’t the issue. This investment will ensure the overflow meets the new 2035 standard many years in advance.”

MP Sir Robert Goodwill said: “This is great news and comes on top of other major investments in our area such as, the 4m litre storm water tank at the South end of Marine Drive. When we get heavy rain, the drainage system can be overwhelmed resulting in expectable discharges. This investment will bring this outfall back within parameters set by the Government resulting in better bathing water quality.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​