On Thursday afternoon in the House of Lords there was a discussion entitled Pollution in Rivers and Regulation of Private Water Companies which is available here. It was set out by Cathy Bakewell who is from Liberal Democrat and she was previously the councillor for the South Somerset Council. The discussion took place on the afternoon of the 29th of February 2024 and Cathy commented on a session that impaired the Southampton YMCA. One of the other people who did contribute during the session was Jennifer Jones who is the Brighton Green Party member. I was personally a Trustee of the Hove YMCA at the beginning of 2000 and I became the Chair leader for 12 years and it is now the YMCA Downslink Group which is very significant. I do recall that we visited the YMCA Fairthorne Manor at least once in that time and so I am aware that both of these YMCAs are very significant. So here is the document from Cathy Bakewell.

On Tuesday this week, Southern Water was fined £330,000 over a raw sewage spill at a rural beauty spot. That killed more than 2,000 fish, with staff ignoring an alarm about the emergency for five hours. The YMCA Fairthorne Manor, an outdoor activity centre popular for school trips, had to stop water activities for 10 days after the incident and cancel more than 1,000 sessions. The health implications of sewage are why Liberal Democrats have previously called for sewage sickness victims to receive compensation, and we repeat that call today. It is not right that, as water companies make large profits, swimmers get sick. If someone is poisoned by sewage, they should be compensated for it.