TEIGNBRIDGE Council has demanded details of how South West Water is tackling the quantity of sewage entering streams, rivers and bathing waters. 

The authority is calling for the water company to provide full details of the steps it is taking to keep sewage out of the Teign estuary, together with timescales and costs for the work.

It follows hot on the heels of a South Hams Council resolution demanding a face-to-face meeting with SWW chief executive Sue Davy. 

During that debate, council leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) said he would not happy until a water company executive somewhere in the UK went prison for polluting waterways.

Teignbridge Council took on board a motion signed by nine councillors demanding action.

They said that SWW had spent £54 million on the Buckland treatment works at Newton Abbot in 1991, aiming to end the practice of releasing sewage into the estuary, but it still went on.

Cllr Chris Clarance (Ind, Shaldon and Stokeinteignhead) said: ‘I believe we owe it to our residents to press South West Water for answers and solutions to the current appalling situation.’

Cllr Jackie Hook (Lib Dem, Bushell) added: ‘They are not performing as they should be, so it is right that we challenge them.’

And Cllr Andrew McGregor (SD Alliance, Bishopsteignton) added: ‘We need to be a lot more vocal. The level of sewage is potentially ruining our tourist industry.’

South West Water says reducing storm overflows is its top priority, and it welcomes ‘robust scrutiny’ from councils.