Leader of Arun District Council meets with Southern Water

The Leader of Arun District Council has met with bosses at Southern Water following concerns raised on a number of recent incidents by local residents.

Councillor Gunner met with the Chief Customer Officer and Director of Quality and Environment at Southern Water on Friday to address recent incidents and to discuss plans for the future.

The region has recently experienced a number of sewage discharges into local rivers and along the coastline as a result of storms and unpredictable weather.

After the meeting, Cllr Gunner said: "Wherever I go in the district right now, people are angry. [On Friday] I met with Southern Water to tell them the real concerns and frustrations that residents have with the storm overflows."

Concerns had been raised by many local residents, which is what the leader of the council aimed to address with the water company's bosses.

Cllr Gunner said he "challenged them on several areas that are causing concerns for residents, one being their historic responses to planning applications and accompanying infrastructure."

He added that he was "pleased they acknowledged this is an issue, and that they recognised that residents and businesses are concerned."

The bosses at Southern Water "have offered to meet with councillors to discuss these challenges, and [the council] are going to work together on how [they] can reduce the pressures on the system so that storm overflows are only ever a last resort", said Cllr Gunner.

Cllr Gunner added: “They also made a commitment to lay out clearly, what their current plans are for investing in our network. They made it clear that with the South Downs National Park, Pagham Harbour, Climping Beach and other environmentally special areas, we would be a higher priority for 'significant investment'.

“I'm grateful that Southern Water took the time to meet with me and listen first-hand some of the anger and concern of residents. This is the start of an ongoing conversation and I want to reassure the people in Arun that we are on the case and on your side. We are going to work with Southern Water to do everything we can to ensure that these storm overflows become less and less of an issue. It won't happen overnight, but over time, with the aim of decreasing the use storm overflows in the district helping Arun will become an even better to live, to work and to visit.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We have a small favour to ask.

Hundreds of thousands of local listeners across Sussex have placed their trust in V2 Radio’s commitment to proper local radio since we started broadcasting in January 2021, tuning in to us to for company, local news, local travel, events and entertainment.

Unlike many others, V2 Radio has no shareholders and no billionaire owner, nor do we receive any licence fees. Just the determination and passion to deliver a quality and impartial service to our communities we serve across Sussex. And we provide all this for free, for everyone to listen to across the airwaves and to read on our website & mobile app. Everyone can benefit from open access to all our content regardless of their ability to pay for it.

Every contribution, however big or small, powers our ability to invest in campaigns like our charity appeals, our unbiased journalism and it also helps to sustain the future of V2 Radio for many years to come.