People walking along the Hastings seafront in recent weeks will have noticed the massive buildup of shingle gathered up by the Harbour Arm in front of the RNLI lifeboat station. A team of engineers has been digging up hundreds of tonnes of beach shingle from along the shore as part of an ongoing plan to protect potentially vulnerable areas of the town from renewed flooding.

Each day, up to 800 tonnes of the surplus shingle, which has drifted down the coast from Eastbourne, is being collected up. This is then driven back down to Pevensey Bay to bolster beach levels and reduce the risk of flooding along that stretch of coastline.

The work to remove the surplus shingle in Hastings is part of a joint initiative by the Environment Agency, Southern Water, Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council. The aim is to reduce the impact of wave action and shingle drift along the shoreline.

The buildup of shingle along the beach is proving to be a constant problem for Southern Water. The shingle was identified as one of the major causes of the blockage of an outfall pipe at Denmark Place, a short distance away, which was responsible for the town’s flooding in November 2023. This outfall pipe requires constant attention to keep it clear.

The excess shingle also creates problems for the RNLI. When the buildup becomes too great, the lifeboat station is often forced to clear a path along the beach just to launch. Any delay in getting a boat to sea can have dramatic consequences.

The Environment Agency anticipates collecting up to 15,000 tonnes of shingle from Hastings and transferring it to Pevensey in what it describes as a massive logistic operation. The works are expected to be completed in early May.

Environment Agency engineers will monitor the effectiveness of the operation, but they are under no illusion that the problem can be solved entirely. Coastal erosion can only be managed, not eradicated. With approximately 12km of coastline, Hastings will require long-term action and sustained funding to reduce the risk of flooding and major landslips, while also accounting for climate change and the predicted rise in sea levels.

Despite the popularity of swimming all year, the Environment Agency only tests during the bathing season (May 15-Sep 30) and CWAG is one of the many environmental groups pressing for year-round testing. They hope evidence from the upcoming autumn and winter months will increase the pressure on both Southern Water and the Government to step up monitoring and reduce pollution, focussing our money on infrastructure investment and clean water rather than bonuses and bill increases.

Hastings and Rye MP, Helena Dollimore has mentioned CWAG’s work several times in the House of Commons, and in the recent Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report on priorities for water sector reform.

Based on the event duration monitors (EDMs) on each of the five combined sewage outfalls (CSOs) across Hastings and St Leonards, there have been fewer sewage releases compared to last year in the first half of 2025. In large part, this is likely due to the dry Spring; however, we’ve seen more releases in the recent wet July weather and this will inevitably increase as we approach winter.

Alongside the testing, CWAG will also be running several free public events from September to November, ensuring people in the area are confident about entering the water, that they understand the value of monitoring sea water quality and the positive impact of keeping the water and beach clean for our health and the wider ecosystem. These include:

• A panel talk at the Lido Land exhibition, Electro Studios & Gallery (Sept 6) in collaboration with Standing Up for Nature (@standingupfornature).
• A beach clean with young people from Ark Academy School, in collaboration with Emma Ridout (@pickingupplastichastings).
• A ‘Creative Gossip’ circle discussion drawing on particular and collective wisdom and exploring our complex and eternal relationship with water in collaboration with Afri-Co-Lab (@afri.co.lab)
• A special ‘Dipping Your Toe’ first sea-swim event in collaboration with Swimming Sisters, a project led by The Lotus Flower (@thelotusf) – which supports women who have faced barriers to accessing the essential life skill of swimming: helping them overcome their fear of water, develop swimming skills, connecting with new friends across different communities, and accessing mental health support.  
• A shoreline seaweed hunt, as part of the Natural History Museum’s Big Seaweed Search, with local eco-swimwear designer, The Sea Change (@theseachange.co.uk) and the Hastings Kelp Project (@hastingskelpproject).

When clean and clear, Hastings and St Leonards have some of the loveliest beaches on the SE coast, with sightings of seals, dolphins and even a humpback whale! CWAG wants an end to the obscene profiteering and pollution in the private water industry, with a transformed twenty-first century system that prioritises people and the environment.

To this end they are committed to keeping up the pressure on Southern Water, the Environment Agency and the Government, while ensuring the evidence and information they gather is shared widely, enabling more people to feel confident in making informed decisions about paddling, bathing, fishing and using our beaches.

CWAG is entirely volunteer led. Their testing is currently funded through the Southern Water Goodwill Fund, administered by Sussex Community Foundation with support from Surfers Against Sewage.

Follow their activities and information on Instagram @cleanwateractgp or Clean Water Action on WhatsApp. If you want to offer your support, donations or hear more about our work email hslcleanwateraction@gmail.com

The south coast of what was to become England was formed after the last Ice age. The great rivers now known as the Thames, Seine and Rhine all flowed into an embayment – a large bay – to the north-east of Kent. England was still joined to Europe via Doggerland and a 21-mile-long chalk ‘land bridge’ – the Weald-Artois Ridge – about a hundred feet high that connected Dover’s white cliffs to those of Cap Gris-Nez south of Calais. 

As the glaciers covering the North Sea began to melt around 600,000 years ago, a huge lake built up behind the ridge. After 150,000 years the pressure became too much for the chalk and it started to breach, perhaps beginning with a giant waterfall that thundered down into what is now the Channel. The dam finally burst, creating a megaflood that threw the remnants of the glacial moraine in the form of millions of tons of stones and flints into the centre of the channel. This was to become the shingle that we know so well from our local beaches today.

Another source of shingle is from cliff collapses and erosion both in sandstone and chalk areas. The calcium chalk of Beachy Head slowly releases hard flint nodules, and the sedimentary sandstone areas give smaller brown pebbles, usually angular. Millions of tons of shingle sit in the centre of the English Channel and this is dredged and moved onto our seashores and beaches to safeguard low-lying land behind them – as in the Dymchurch sea wall that has protected the Romney marsh since Roman times.

Shifting shingle

The problem is the shingle doesn’t stay where it’s put. It is moved down the coast naturally by the prevailing currents and winds in a process known as longshore drift. This usually moves from Eastbourne towards Rye though just occasionally the wind from the east is strong enough to turn the waves in the opposite direction. But unless the shingle is moved back down the coast, it builds up barriers at the eastern end and denudes the sea defences to the west.

The artificial movement of shingle back along the shore is enabled or contracted by the Environment Agency. They stack up the stones at various points – for example the huge mound seen at Cooden Beach Hotel – then this is distributed by tractor vehicles between the wooden groynes. If not repaired, when groynes are worn or damaged by storms, the shingle moves faster along the coast. So, on top of the cost of dredging shingle from mid-Channel to place on our beaches there is also the cost of repairing the groynes. Most are made of wood, but some are stone. The sea is so powerful that either can be damaged.

Back in medieval times, there was a constant battle to save farmland. Many areas were repeatedly flooded, so a system called ‘bisket and trisket’ was developed to ensure that Pevensey Marshes’ recovered farmland was saved from the sea. This meant that every farmer had to ensure their land had a wall against the sea’s incursions and if that wall was not properly maintained then neighbouring farmers would do the work and charge the cost to the ‘lazy’ or ‘ill’ farmer who had somehow failed in his duty. However, there were some storms that no man could counter. The two Grote Mandrenkes (Great Drownings of Men) of 16 January 1219 (36,000 dead) and 1362 (25,000 dead) were both on the Feast of St Marcellus.

Now in 2024 we rely completely on the Environment Agency (EVA) to help the local councils and the coastal road and railway authorities. Responsibility for the coast from Rye Harbour to Eastbourne is shared by Thames & Foreland EVA Division, the Eastbourne Division of EVA, and Rother District and Hastings Borough councils.

EVA strategies

The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 places a statutory duty on the Environment Agency to develop a National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. This strategy describes what needs to be done by all risk management authorities (RMAs) involved in flood and coastal erosion risk management for the benefit of people and places. This includes the Environment Agency, lead local flood authorities, district councils, internal drainage boards, highways authorities and water and sewerage companies.

A new policy has been developed called the 2020 Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. This strategy’s long-term vision is for: a nation ready for, and resilient to, flooding and coastal change – today, tomorrow and to the year 2100.

The future 

The Environment Agency reported in 2019 ‘that over 5.2 million homes and properties in England are at risk from flooding and coastal erosion. In the Eastbourne to Cooden sector the number of homes at risk is ten thousand. Yet only a third of people who live in areas at risk of flooding believe their property is at risk. Many more people are affected when transport services, energy or water infrastructure are damaged or disrupted. For every household directly affected during a large flood, about 16 people suffer knock-on effects from losses of utility services.’

One sign to look for is the erosion of the concrete platform under the Mary Stanford Memorial Lifeboat House, where the sea is wearing away the land daily. There are many cliff falls along the coast and the Eastbourne Martello Tower base is being undermined as can be seen in the photo. Another area of concern is the foot and cycle path between Bridge Way, St Leonards and Glyne Gap where the sea regularly throws shingle onto the railway tracks and walkers and trains are hit by huge clouds of sea spray. So, we need to understand that global warming and climate change does have implications, not just for far-off countries with low-lying land but for us here in the UK where once the sea lapped the edges of early Cambridge, and Northeye, Rye and Old Winchelsea were islands in a vast and troubled sea. 

Pumping water

Shingle and groynes are the only defence so far proposed. If Eastbourne authorities decide to use concrete as a solution then, because no shingle will come round Beachy Head, the beaches along to Hastings will be stripped by the longshore drift. We also have taken away all our natural floodplains into pipes that enter the sea and so Hastings has had to have pumps installed to save the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre which was built over the top of a river. 

Inevitably we will have to use pumps more and more as the ground becomes supersaturated. This has already happened at Cooden Moat and Cooden Ancient Wood fields, which are ‘squelchy’ under foot because of the almost permanent raised water table. Let us hope that any future government gives the Environment Agency the funds it needs to keep us all safe from rising tides on our beautiful sea coast.

There is something about the impunity with which England’s water companies are allowed to dump sewage into our rivers and seas: it seems emblematic of the corruption and gross inequality that pervade all corners of our crumbling public realm. The town hall meeting clearly laid out how this is allowed to happen. It was explained that although the companies are monopolies and we have no choice as to who provides our water, they are protected legally and financially. Meanwhile, consumers and the environment have no protection at all. 

The meeting was attended by people who refuse to pay for phantom wastewater services or are considering refusal. Also attending were those who have attempted to seek redress in the courts – or are in the process of doing so – and those whose lives have been made a misery by trying to get a byzantine and dysfunctional Southern Water to deal with the sewage that rises in their home every time Hastings floods. All were united by a sense of frustration and outrage. 

A stunning 70% of England’s water companies are owned by foreign investors, including investment firms, banks, hedge funds, foreign governments, and businesses based in tax havens. Since privatisation in 1989, these owners have extracted money from the water companies for their shareholders while loading them with debt. Southern Water owes £5.7 billion; if you are a Southern Water customer, 27% of your bill goes on servicing that debt. 

So how are the water companies able to borrow so much money? At the meeting on 15 March, Julie Bygraves laid out how the price we pay for water is determined by a regulator. Amongst other things, the regulated asset base not only guarantees profits for water companies, but also allows them to charge borrowing costs to their customers. In addition, as collateral for borrowing, the companies use their physical assets, which we paid for before they received them debt-free at privatisation – and continue to pay for. Both of these mechanisms incentivise the borrowing of increasing sums of money, the charges for which are loaded onto customers’ bills.

In 1991, two years after the privatisation of water companies, the Water Industries Act overrode common law in a clause that protects water companies from individual legal challenges. There are now only two bodies, OFWAT and the Environment Agency (EA) that can prosecute water companies for not carrying out their legal duties. This includes the safe and legal disposal of wastewater: i.e. not dumping it into rivers and seas.

As pointed out in the meeting, these bodies have the powers to regulate and enforce the water companies; they just don’t do it. So, is this a case of ‘failure by design’? The revolving doors between the water companies and the regulating bodies would seem to suggest this. However, there is another, even more pernicious, reason. In a letter to OFWAT last month, the Chair of the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Committee wrote that it was “concerned” that enforcing regulations and issuing fines against “consistently failing entities” would risk causing their financial collapse, so OFWAT should therefore not use “the full extent of its powers.” In other words, indebted water companies should be allowed to break the law to stave off their probably inevitable collapse.

There is, however, one area where the consumer does have some leverage: Southern Water has 2.6 million customers. Many of them are paying by direct debit, which allows the water company to keep those accounts in surplus, often to the tune of hundreds of pounds. This creates a huge pool of ‘borrowed’ money to help keep them afloat, on which, of course, they are paying no interest. So, if Southern Water’s banditry is making you furious, cancel that direct debit now.

For more information go to sussexbylines.co.uk and search Money down the drain and Water nationalisation is the best option.

A regular column to update readers on the damaging effects of the current management of water in Hastings, surrounding areas (and nationally) and what people are doing about it. If you have any information, please contact community@hastingsindependentpress.co.uk marked Clean Water Watch.   

Happy HIP Birthday from Clean Water Watch

Not only ten years of HIP but ten Clean Water Watch columns since it began on 23 August 2023: a regular column to update readers on the damaging effects of the current management of water in Hastings, surrounding area (and nationally) and what people are doing about it. If you have any information, please contact: community@hastingsindependentpress.co.uk marked Clean Water Watch.   

DON’T GIVE UP

A reminder of what needs to be done, not just to improve the present but also to prevent future disasters was highlighted in a 2004 report commissioned by the aptly named Foresight programme from their Flood and Coastal Defence project. Foresight is run by the Office of Science and Technology under the direction of the Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government. In the forward, Elliot Morley MP, Environment Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)  from 2003 to 2006, said he was “delighted to receive it”. We can’t help but wonder what he did with it next. An extract reads:

“Besides flooding from rivers and coasts, towns and cities will be subject to localised flooding caused by the sewer and drainage systems being overwhelmed by sudden localised downpours. The potential damages could be huge, but much more work needs to be done to quantify the potential problem.”

20 years on we are finally talking about the results of the flooding as well as the results of government inertia, inaction from regulatory bodies and greed from privatised water companies. For the full report, visit tinyurl.com/2m3n7p8d

BAD NEWS SECTION

Water companies have until the end of January to publish the new charges for household waste. The increase is said to be for work needed to help fix ageing infrastructure – left to deteriorate over many years of neglect. However this is not part of the package of £10bn that the companies say is needed to fix the pollution problem. The rises will come into force in April and will no doubt add to the anger that water companies already face –  and no doubt add to those refusing to pay their bills until real progress is made. 

GOOD NEWS SECTION

Local

We understand that Southern Water has agreed to fund an ecological survey of Old Roar Gill, something that campaigners have been asking for since early last year. The details are not yet clear, but Glenn Haffenden, Green Councillor recently given responsibility for the environment, should soon be up to speed and reporting back.

National

Up until now, water companies have been able to make their own checks on how they run sewage works; this includes testing samples of water they discharge into rivers. Not a good idea when saving money seems to be more important than environmental safety. The Environment Secretary, Steve Barclay has now announced that this will have to stop, a victory for all those campaigning to take this key task out of the hands of the water industry and into the hands of the Environment Agency (EA). The bad news is that this is currently only an intention, and the underfunded Environment Agency has so far been unable to properly monitor the water companies. Let’s hope they can properly monitor the sewage coming from them.

LAUGH OR CRY?

Private Eye poked fun at Southern Water in Turd of the Week for publishing a message on Twitter/X and Instagram saying proudly: “We’re delighted to have been awarded a green status in the Environment Agency’s 2023 Environmental Performance Assessment.” Apparently it led to a “tsunami of outrage”.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for coastal and flood defence policy in the United Kingdom. Following recent talks with Environment Agency (EA) personnel, I have analysed the latest sea-rise/flood risk data from EA, the Met Office and NASA. Just like the tides, the situation keeps changing and there are no sacrosanct final figures but instead, estimates – the best possible scenario and the very worst.

Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases

Some say that humans are responsible for the damage being done to our wonderful blue planet and some deny this, pointing to the natural rise and fall in warm and cold periods over the last 800,000 years that brought on successive ice ages and catastrophic flooding.

After the last ice age began to melt some 600,000 years ago, a giant lake built up behind the Weald-Artois Ridge connecting what was to become England and France. There were two major incidents of lake formation. After 150,000 years the pressure became too much for the 100-foot-high chalk ridge and it became a giant waterfall that thundered for thousands of years and finally burst, throwing the remnants of its moraine in the form of shingle and flints into the centre of the ‘English Channel’. These shingle beds have been mapped. Now that sea levels are rising, the first lines of defence are beach groynes and shingle banks. Since scientists believe that the global warming process will continue to at least 2300 no matter what we do, we need to focus on how we tackle the inevitable changes over the next 277 years.

Responsible Authorities

Defending the coast from Eastbourne to Cooden Beach, including Cooden Beach Hotel (inside Bexhill Town Council’s St Marks Ward), is the responsibility of the EA’s Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Management Scheme. There are 10,000 homes at risk. The area includes the Waller’s Haven tide gates that allow excess flood water from Pevensey Marshes to reach the sea at Norman’s Bay.

From the Bexhill side of the Cooden Beach hotel, to the edge of Combe Valley in St Leonards-on-Sea, the responsibility lies with Rother District Council, not with Bexhill’s Town Council. Combe Valley itself is a well-known winter flooding area. Like Waller’s Haven it has flood gates at the interface between Filsham and Bo-Peep, the responsibility of the EA team at Worthing. From the east bank of Combe Haven to the cliffs at Rock-a-Nore in Hastings the responsibility is with Hastings Borough Council, helped by the EA. Once we reach Pett Level and Winchelsea Beach we are into the territory of the EA’s Kent and South London Flood Risk Team.

Shingle Defence and its Implications

Despite the eternal longshore drift caused by waves, the shingle cannot get around Beachy Head to Eastbourne and so the ice age shingle banks in mid-channel are being dredged to spread on the beaches of Eastbourne. The EA plan for Eastbourne to Cooden Beach will be researched and refined, with opportunities for public discussion until 2027 when work will begin to ensure that Eastbourne and Pevensey Marshes do not get flooded. The EA states that the main defence is to be shingle banks and groynes. However, it is obvious that if the sea does rise as predicted under mid- to high-scenarios detailed below, or if the almost endless extraction of shingle gets too expensive, then some hard landscaping will be required and shingle spreading may stop. If it does stop, then, since nothing is coming around Beachy Head, the longshore drift will take all the shingle away from the beaches of Bexhill and Hastings unless it is replaced by the mid-channel resources or external area contractors. Worn or damaged groynes allow the sea to take shingle along the coast much faster.

How high will the sea rise?

Scientists measure the rate that the tide heights are increasing. Two government official tide gauges are at Newhaven and Dover, with an additional tide height radar which was fitted to Hastings Pier in 2017. The Hydrodynamics Project Manager of the Channel Coastal Observatory at the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre monitors the Hastings Pier radar.

The National Meteorological Office, known as the Met Office, is the scientific department EA uses to assess how high the tides will become. The Met Office’s Hadley Centre, which studies climate change, draws its data from many global and local sources. It states:

“New sea level projections… show a continued rise beyond 2100 under all climate change scenarios. Sea level rise is the dominant driver of increased coastal flood risk, both historically and in future projections of climate change. Individual UK flood events are usually associated with extreme weather conditions, particularly the generation of storm surges, which can be compounded by the action of wind-generated surface waves. However, projections of changes in frequency and severity of future coastal extreme water levels are dominated by the long-term increase in coastal water levels associated with climate change.”

The Met Office sets out predictions for 2100 to 2300:

“For projections to 2100, the low-likelihood, high impact storyline could lead to an additional metre (3.2 feet) of global mean sea level rise and is associated with loss from both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The implications for uncertainty in UK sea level projections will need further work because the impact of ice loss from Antarctica is more important for sea level rise around the UK than ice loss from Greenland.”

For projections to 2300, the low-likelihood, high impact scenario could lead to global mean sea level rise of up to about 15m (50 feet). This storyline is based on possible widespread loss from the Antarctic ice sheet. Under this storyline, large ice loss from Antarctica would have an even larger impact on UK sea level rise. This highlights that we need to work with scientists around the world to better understand and monitor the Antarctic ice sheet.”

So how much higher will the sea get on a calm day with no wind or storms? In the nearest area to Hastings under consideration – London – this is the situation:

“Under a low emissions scenario, the approximate Met Office projected ranges at Year 2300 are 0.5 to 2.2m for London. Under a high emissions scenario, this increases to 1.4 up to 4.3m.”

Obviously, these figures will be much worse in winter when storms direct the wind onshore, especially during natural high tides and North Sea surges. Clearly we cannot afford to plan only for calm weather. In order to be safe we have to plan for the worst combination of circumstances and increase our civic resilience.

Hastings Borough Council explains:

“Hastings has approximately 12km of coastline and has powers under the Coast Protection Act 1949 to carry out works to protect the coast from erosion. Major works were carried out from 1987 to 1991 to restore the defences and future works are planned to take account of predictions of sea level rise and climate change. The developed 5km frontage of Hastings and St Leonards is protected by a system of seawalls and groynes which help to retain the shingle beaches. To the east of the town are 7km of sandstone and clay cliffs which extend past the cliff top village of Fairlight to the low-lying land at Pett Level, both of which are in Rother District Council. The cliffs are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and for the 5km within the Borough of Hastings there is a policy of no active intervention, and the cliffs are left to erode naturally.’

What of the future?

At present the strategy is to defend the coastal railway line using giant blocks of granite (see photo). The rest of the coast from Eastbourne to Rye Harbour, apart from any cliffs, will be defended by shingle and groynes. Councils may be short of money or in debt, and replacing groynes and heaping shingle is expensive. If global warming continues at its current rate, then gradually the low tide sands and beaches will disappear, the tide will come in far more quickly and the sea will almost always reach the sea fronts. The coastal towns will not want their sea fronts to be protected by giant granite boulders, so they may have to develop cosmetic solutions involving hard landscaping such as walls and higher sea fronts. There is time to plan, but the cost will be a problem. Other concerns will be public acceptance and planning consents. Inter-tidal wildlife will be affected, and I have already received a complaint from a fisherman about the removal of mid-Channel shingle. Furthermore the coastal path at Bridge Way to Glyne Gap, St Leonards, is already at risk in winter due to waves and cast shingle.

What is today’s state of play?

There is no shingle at Camber, just blowing sand, because Rye Harbour’s storm beach and sea wall stops the shingle moving to Camber. Pett Level and Winchelsea Beach has its shingle heaped up to a six-foot wall, initially making it impossible to get safely onto the beach. On a second visit I found that the sea had quickly softened the profile and reduced the protection. Hastings and Bexhill have shingle and some granite blocks, but many groynes are worn, and some are so low as to be useless.

Combe Valley Countryside Park and Crowhurst Village on the Powdermill Stream come under the authority of the EA’s East Sussex Partnerships & Strategic Overview Team, Flood & Coastal Risk Management, Solent & South Downs Area at Guildbourne House in Worthing. Combe Valley suffers from summer drought but is a winter wildlife paradise with a giant lake (see photo).

The Combe Haven tide gates have to be shut at high tide and EA have told me that they do not believe in pumping excess water over the tide gates so hinterland winter flooding will become more severe. However, my personal view is that this is a mistake because Hastings Shopping Centre was once a harbour and so was Combe Valley, and Pevensey and Romney Marshes were once the sea. We may be forced to pump water into the sea at high tide to get rid of flash flooding despite the cost of installation, operation and continued maintenance.

Furthermore, EA warn that the cellars of homes along Bexhill Road at Bulverhythe should not be used to store equipment as they will flood. The EA explains that these homes were built so that the living room and kitchen floors would be above historic flood levels at all times – but not the cellars.

At Norman Bay’s Wallers Haven, the tide gates will have to be shut for longer so the water table on Pevensey Marsh will rise to flood levels. The groynes at Waller’s Haven are so worn away that the shingle is already being stripped off the beaches.

There may also be a temptation as costs rise for agencies and local authorities to vie for shingle and take it off the beaches instead of the centre of the English Channel.

All this would take many years to come to pass if the sea was always calm and there were no storms. However, because the climate is now more chaotic than usual, anti-flooding measures are even more vital. In the mid to long term, people will have to adapt to a different Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings with significant sea defences, making beach holidays difficult, and the stripping out of coastal paths, cycleways and sea edge housing due to erosion.

Humans have adapted to climate change for thousands of years and modern detection systems are superb. Yet there is no doubt that on current data, our children and their children will have a very different time when they go to the seaside. Even if we don’t have sufficient political will or motivation and even if people do, or do not, believe in climate change, change is coming. We need to be ready for it.

Prospective developers of the Old Bathing Pool site at West Marina say they have submitted a ‘risk report’ to the Environment Agency, and are awaiting its review. 

The site is owned by Hastings Borough Council (HBC) but has been licensed since October 2021 to West Marina St Leonards Limited (WMSLL), a consortium of two development companies County Gate and The Generator Group, under a joint venture agreement to prepare plans for building a mixed housing and leisure complex. 

In November 2021 a spokesperson for WMSLL said: “We will initially be undertaking technical and survey work to gain a clear understanding of the constraints and opportunities afforded by the site. It is anticipated that this work will take up to ten months to complete.”

When HIP raised questions last week concerning the progress of the intended development (or, rather, lack of it) nearly two years on, a joint response was issued on behalf of both HBC and WMSLL that “WMSLL have completed their surveys and the technical flood risk modelling work. A Flood Risk Report has been submitted to the Environment Agency (EA), which is currently being reviewed by them, and their formal response is awaited. Once EA approval has been obtained then WMSL will move forward with preparing a planning application for the site.” 

MINIMAL CONSULTATION

There has in the meantime been minimal consultation with the local community. WMSL director Amanda Vint met with members of one opposition forum, the West Marina Group, in April 2022. She referred then to “a survey period” under the development agreement, to be followed by the formulation of a masterplan and planning application for the project. It wouldn’t be possible, she said, to undertake any meaningful consultation or engagement earlier, but WMSL “will be delighted to consult and engage with the local community at this point in time”.

Virginia Vilela, chair of the West Marina Group, is unimpressed. “We’ve had no meaningful interaction since,” she said, “except for an email saying they will communicate with us when their plans are complete. They’ve had double the ten months survey time and still say they are waiting for responses from Southern Water and the Environment Agency. How long are HBC prepared to wait for this? I believe there was a time limit, and I think it has been exceeded, but I’m not sure of the exact dates. When I spoke to HBC leader Paul Barnett about this, he said he felt they had to give more time as the delays were not their fault. It would appear to me that they are just hoping to present a tied-up planning permission to the group at the same time they present it to the planning committee.

“We as a group still feel very strongly that this is not a suitable site for dense residential development, due to its position by the sea and its complexities. It is far more suitable for a leisure-led development with possible low density housing at the western end (where the car wash etc. used to be), even possibly a tower-block-type development there. This would still bring in revenue to HBC with rentals for small units and possible events, etc on the site, along with council tax, etc for the housing. It would also give West St Leonards, particularly West Marina, a boost.”

“STABLE DOOR BOLTED”

Bryan Fisher, of West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum, concurs: “To say that the local community and interest groups will be formally involved once a planning application is made smacks of the stable door being bolted… We want a proactive communication between HBC, County Gate and local interest groups now, whilst plans can be amended to benefit the local community.”

The Forum has proposed alternative multiple sites for housing development in the area at Malmesbury House, Eversfield Chest Hospital, West Marina Station, the retail site that includes TK Maxx and Benson Beds, and the sites on Cinque Ports Way, where the design of a potential flagship tower offering a mix of high-end apartments and affordable rented/purchased one- and two-bed apartments could attract an architectural competition.

Mr Fisher says he asked Ms Vint what WMSLL would do if planning permission were refused. “No surprises really, she stated they would appeal.”

But what if the EA turns out to be dissatisfied with the flood risk report, as they were two years ago with the one submitted by HBC itself for development of the Lower Tier of Bulverhythe Recreation Ground half a mile away up the Bexhill Road? Neither HBC nor WMSLL have offered any comment on such an outcome, though  given the added complexity of the Southern Water installations on the Old Bathing Pool site, it surely remains a distinct possibility. 

We’ve burnt effigies, we’ve protested, filmed illegal dumping – yes pun intended – even sought legal advice against bill paying, yet Southern Water plough on pumping raw sewage into our waters.

This is not an issue to give up on – it’s simply too important. Nor should the newly appointed chair of Water UK, Dr Ruth Kelly, be anything to be excited about. Her mock shock at the condition of our waters (ranked the worst in Europe), the enormity of the fines absorbed easily and ineffectually by Southern Water, the continuing lies from the company and of course the main concern, the continuing dangers to the climate, marine life and human life, appear to be well known to all but Dr Kelly.

She claims it has taken years to collate the data. Surfers Against Sewage took on the most accurate and comprehensive study of our waters in one year – 2021. Yes, this shit show has been years in production, but the reviews from the public have never been so vocal and so recent. It’s thanks to the critics she’s been wheeled out in her current role at all.

As a layperson and swimmer I came across this information (Read it and Weep) last summer. Following an illness diagnosed by the GP as caused by sea swimming, I checked a tool called Beachbuoy – Southern Water’s ‘accurate,’ ‘live’ map of sewage spills. The beach was declared safe – even “excellent”. I then checked the Surfers Against Sewage equivalent graphic. It sported a bright red flag translating as ‘do not enter the water at any cost.’ I contacted Southern Water. An extremely tedious reply from them indicated that it was the Environment Agency who set the guidelines for judging water quality, and that data was only collected between May and September which then stands for the whole year (unlucky for you if you’re a winter swimmer, or a fish.) 

When I pointed out it was in fact August I was told that “swimmers are expected to use their common sense”, a line they still use today. So they declare the beach safe, nay excellent, yet I had the lack of sense to swim. “Please note: Southern Water can’t make any safety recommendations for water users. Beachbuoy is simply a release reporting tool – users are advised to use their own discretion when entering the water.” Well, that’s cleared that up then.

Swimmers are asking for it

So when Dr Kelly promises “additional data will be added to The Hub [the shiny new name for Beachbuoy] to let people see the real world impact”, I fear that no one has told her that this live map already exists, and it lies. 

I had a look yesterday at the Southern Water (SW) site. Between May 13 and May 25 of this year there were 27 “genuinely impactful” (the SW term for ‘this is serious shit’),  raw sewage dumps in Bexhill and St Leonards. Don’t fear, the very same beaches are still declared “excellent” for the very same period.

A phrase oft used by SW to explain away the flow of untreated excrement into our rivers and seas, is that of “rainwater overspills”.  Sounds almost wholesome doesn’t it? Sewage overflows are only permitted to discharge sewage into the environment during “exceptional rainfall events”. Water companies are prohibited from making “dry spills” from sewage overflows when there has been no rainfall.

Yet there were four times as many “dry spills” from Southern Water than the next worst offender, South West Water. A total of 95 “dry spills” at locations classified as “excellent” under the current testing regime.

In a groundbreaking court case regarding Southern Water over further crimes back in 2019, the offences the company were fined for included “deliberate failings, causing major harm (Category 1)”. 

“Southern Water charges its customers for treating wastewater and is required by permit to properly treat wastewater so as to protect the environment. Instead, the court heard SW admit to causing 6,971 illegal discharges over the offending period (2010-2105), which lasted a total of 61,704 hours, the equivalent of 2,571 days or just over seven years.”

The Environment Agency’s successful prosecution secured the largest fine for environmental pollution by a water company to date. The package of penalties and rebates is the biggest Ofwat has ever imposed, reflecting the deliberate misreporting of performance information. This meant the company avoided penalties under Ofwat’s incentive regime. This was 2019. Only two years later they are fined £90million for the same behaviour. Words fail.

So it’s not surprising that Southern Water customers are refusing to pay their wastewater bills in protest at sewage spills by the firm (see HIP 225 We Won’t Pay For Environmental Vandalism).

Law on our side

Sussex resident Katy Colley said her protest group was considering legal action after law firm Leigh Day secured funding for households to make claims. Ms Colley has refused to pay waste water charges on her Southern Water bill for the past five months.

“So far nobody has told me that I have to pay,” Ms Colley said.

Dr Kelly announces a £10billion injection of funds to upgrade dilapidated drainage systems. It looks suspiciously like the public will have to pay towards this upgrading – for up to a century. Her summation of the situation was as far-reaching as I believe her effectiveness will be: “We’re sorry.”

Tempting as it is to give up on a company that lies, refuses to let a mere £126million fine slow it down, and one that appears to have no interest in changing – it is protest that has got us this far. The whole nation knows about it now and a law firm is backing non-payment for customers. So rather than be swamped in the mire, keep fighting. Check Surfers Against Sewage and their new accurate water safety app, write to Southern Water, HIP,  MPs and keep on burning turds. It’s about time the tide was turned.

Read about Southern Water’s role in town flooding page 1

Read it and Weep

There are enough statistics regarding the state of our waters, crimes committed by Southern Water and monies both taken and given within the company that even the Andrex puppy would run out of paper, here are a few of the key ones, provided by Surfers Against Sewage:

39% of report of sickness after bathing were linked with a sewage discharge in the area

In 2021, Southern Water were fined £90 million for serial misreporting, admitting “…they may have illegally released untreated sewage into rivers and waterways”.

22% of seabird species have declined

There has been a 92% loss of seagrass meadows

Half of UK sharks and rays are in a threatened or near-threatened category on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Just 36% of UK fish stock are declared healthy

Shellfish are the ‘forgotten victims’ of sewage pollution according to the Lib Dems. Waters containing shellfish were dumped in nearly 29,000 times last year, with the longest event lasting 5,000 hours.

 Last financial year, water companies paid out a cumulative total of £16.5 million to their CEOs.

And the one that I really cannot bear:

“Evidence shows that we have a water quality testing regime that wilfully discounts and ignores the worst pollution events in the country.” (Surfers against Sewage)

Well, whoopy-do. Well done Southern Water.  Top of the list again. A total of 372 pollution incidents last year. The highest rate among all nine water companies. Ninety-four pollution events per 10,000 square kilometres.  You left the other companies standing.  Wessex had just twenty-one.  Only South West Water got anywhere near achieving your astounding record.

Do you perhaps need reminding what a ‘pollution incident’ is? According to the Environment Agency at its worst it has a “serious, extensive or persistent impact on the environment, people or property.” To the rest of us that means raw sewage regularly released into our rivers or onto our shores. The effects include ‘harm to human health’.  Thanks, Southern. Keep up the good work.

Well, actually of course, you HAVE been keeping up the good work. A year ago this month you were fined a record £90 million pounds after pleading guilty to 51 counts involving “thousands of illegal discharges of sewage, pollution rivers and coastal waters of Sussex, Kent and Hampshire”. So not much sign of improvement in the intervening 12 months then?

CREDIT: Susan McFie

Even the chair of the Environment Agency is getting a bit fed up with your behaviour. “It’s appalling that water companies’ performance on pollution has hit a new low,” said Emma Howard Boyd as she released the latest report which said that water and sewage companies needed to ‘get a grip’ on their performance.

But what are the chances of the government taking any notice of her recommendation that there should be: “prison sentences for chief executives and board members whose companies are responsible for the most serious incidents and company directors struck off so they cannot move on in their careers after illegal environmental damage”? A bit
of a rhetorical question given, more generally, the number of directorships held by government ministers and backbenchers. You wouldn’t want to set a precedent would you? And what about Hastings Borough Council’s call
for Southern Water to ‘return to public ownership’. Hmm. Tory government. Re-nationalisation? Not too likely.  But it’s OK. A full council meeting voted to ‘seek more regular public meetings with Southern water”. Yep, you’ll doubtless be shaking in your shoes over that call to arms.

But perhaps you could tell me, and the good readers of HIP, just how you managed to be so utterly incompetent and continue to feed us such an extensive diet of raw sewage?  How did you achieve the largest number of “failing sites” (97.9) in the country? How do you manage to be “significantly below target” for total pollution incidents/serious pollution incidents and supply/demand balance index? (The index measures security of supply – or lack of – against what you promised).  You were in the red for all those categories. Giving you an overall performance rating of just one star.  Though I’ll bet some board members were patting themselves on the back at achieving even that. “Not so bad old boy.  They don’t award stars to just anyone, you know”.  Well actually they do.  You can’t get lower than one star out of four.

So if we want to speak to you this time next year, will you be in jail? Will you be struck off as company directors? Will you personally be liable to fines greater than your annual salary? I’ll take a small wager that there are plenty of people in and around Hastings who think you absolutely should be. And another – slightly larger – bet that you won’t be.

Major maintenance and safety work at Buckshole Reservoir, which started back in September, has been put on hold until next spring.

A Hastings Borough Council (HBC) spokeswoman has attributed the delays in the work to “uncertainties around the weather going into the winter, with higher rainfall and reservoir levels, which could have caused additional risk and delay to the completion of the works”. Lower temperatures may have compromised the strength of any concrete work attempted to be laid, which rendered postponement “necessary”.

CREDIT: Ben Cornwell

In January 2020 HBC allocated the sum of £837,000 from its capital budget and £62,775 per year from its revenue budget to undertake the works in 2021. The start of construction work was delayed from August until late September for reasons which have not been made clear, and all work has now ceased for the winter. 

It has been suggested that the postponement will lead to an overall increase in expenditure  of £170,000. But while the council neither confirmed nor denied this figure, it maintains there was no financial reason for either the delay in starting the project or the decision to pause and restart in the spring.  A council spokeswoman added that the contingency budget agreed by the full council would cover any additional costs incurred.

Why the works are needed

The reservoir is one of three in Alexandra Park, established more than 150 years ago. While it may not serve its initial purpose of supplying drinking water to the residents of Hastings, it is still considered a valuable asset to the town in terms of fishing, recreation and wildlife.

The council has a legal obligation to undertake annual and ten-yearly inspections of qualifying reservoirs under the Reservoirs Act 1975. Buckshole is categorised as a category ‘A’ dam, meaning that there is likely to be loss of life if it fails, hence works must be completed to the highest standard. 

A detailed inspection of the reservoirs in 2016 identified the need for improvement works at Shornden and Buckshole Reservoirs. While the works at Shornden Reservoir were completed in 2018, further assessments and studies were needed to determine the scope of work required for Buckshole. The inspections were undertaken by the council’s specialist reservoir engineers, Stillwater Associates, against national standards set by the Environment Agency for reservoir safety and flood risk.  

CREDIT: Ben Cornwell

They determined that Buckshole needed a new outlet pipe installed within the existing overflow structure, which would allow it to drain quickly should there ever be a problem with the dam. A new replacement spillway channel — which will be bigger to ensure that it can cope and protect the dam from the largest predicted floods — will also be constructed, as the original has aged and deteriorated beyond repair. 

Environmental consequences

The council has confirmed that any trees removed will be replaced and replanted once the work has been completed. Dr McCabe’s Well, a spring located within the fenced enclosure at the top of St Helen’s Road, appears to have been carefully preserved with separate fencing around the spring’s plaque. Named after its creator Peter McCabe, a former mayor of Hastings in 1838 and 1843, the spring has been a part of the park’s history since the 19th century as a supply of clean water.

However, park users are upset that the suspension of works has left parts of the park ravaged and obstructed. Mary Boorman, who lives in Battle but visits regularly, describes its condition as “a real shame…I love the park,” she said. “We do not have a nice big park like this in Battle, so I try to come down here as much as I can. Now you cannot easily get through.” But she said she understood that there is “very little that the council can do” to prevent areas and footpaths being fenced off.

A Hastings couple walking their dogs in the park were confused why the footpath had to remain shut for the next few months. “They have postponed the works now and left it in an absolute mess,” one said. “I can understand the decision to leave the area fenced off as they will need to access it again when the works resume. But if they are not working for a few months, why not reopen the footpath to the public over winter rather than making us have to go out of the park, past the barriers and then back in?”

The council has indicated that the lower footpath through the park between the public toilets and the reservoir will be closed for safety reasons for the duration of the works, while the footpath on St Helen’s Road will stay open subject to short periods of closure to allow construction vehicles in and out of the site.

Over fifty people turned out on Wednesday 27 October to highlight the continuing problems with water pollution. Facebook groups including Hastings Environment Network and Plastic Free Hastings announced on 26 October that the BBC would be filming for the Politics South East show, on the beach near Azur at noon the next day. The groups invited the public to “show Parliament we expect them to take a stand against this rising tide!” Despite the short notice, the turnout was strong. People of all ages carried banners, placards and red flags – as used to warn when the water is unsafe for swimming.

In July, Southern Water was fined an unprecedented £90 million for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea over six years, allegedly in a bid to avoid upgrading infrastructure. Also in July, there was a major sewage spill at Bulverhythe between Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea. The Environment Agency is currently allowing water companies to release untreated wastewater into some of the UK’s most vulnerable rivers and streams. The well-being of both people and wildlife may be at risk. The decision is being blamed on a shortage of treatment chemicals, which in turn is being blamed on a shortage of HGV drivers. 

Mat McDonnell, who attended the protest, grew up in Hastings where he swims and fishes regularly. He told us: “It’s a sad state of affairs… we are all very well aware of how much danger our world is in – it‘s not a new problem. The government has the wherewithal to take these things [water companies] back into ownership.” He feels that if there is room for profits for shareholders, there must be funds to spend on improvements.

The BBC featured the event as part of its Politics South East programme, aired on 31 October. Deputy Labour Leader of Kent County Council, Cllr Karen Constantine, an active member of a year-round, wild swimmers’ group, said in the programme: “We’re not just concerned about our swimming, we’re concerned about the ecology and all the other swimmers as well.” She feels that the infrastructure updating is crucial. Mat McDonnell also pointed out “The poorest among us are going to be hardest hit by the ageing, collapsing infrastructures.” 

Julia James, a grandmother from Hastings, told HIP she was there because: “What kind of legacy am I leaving for my grandchildren? It’s not OK. We have to think about the future and the government is not.” Alicia Poch, who recently moved to the area, said: “After moving here I realised how amazing it was. My children and my children’s children having to suffer red flags all the time because of sewage in the sea is not acceptable.” One protestor commented that during August there had been almost constant sewage and pollution alerts.

Tories provoked outcry last month by refusing to back an Environment Bill amendment reining in water pollution, just days before Cop26 climate summit got underway. According to the Guardian, the Environment Agency reported there were 403,171 spills of sewage into England’s rivers and seas in 2020, adding up to over 3.1m hours of spillages.

• The BBC segment was part of its 31 October programme and can be seen here

A few weeks ago, at Bulverhythe beach, all you would have heard were the calming sounds of the sea breeze, the pebbles clattering under people’s feet and the squawking seagulls. However, in recent days those sounds have been overpowered by the deafening noise of Southern Water machinery working to clear the sewage amongst the beach huts. With pipe leaks and polluted seawater, Southern Water has been busy recently.

Coastal clean up 

As we reported in the last Hastings Independent, Southern Water pledged to apply themselves to repairing the leak at Bulverhythe “around the clock”. We visited the area on 6th August to investigate progress. A clean-up crew was using a digger to scoop out a fenced-off area near the cycle path and beach huts. We spoke to one person who did not want to be identified but told us he was impressed with how the company had handled the problem, saying it was done swiftly and completely. 

A crack in the system

However this does not negate the seriousness of the bigger picture. Following the Environment Agency’s largest-ever investigation, Southern was found guilty of criminal activity over a prolonged period and fined £90 million in July. Appearing at Canterbury Crown Court, the company admitted 6,971 illegal spills from 17 sites in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex between 2010 and 2015. 

CREDIT: Dave Young

The court heard raw sewage had been diverted away from treatment works and into the environment, allowing the company to avoid financial penalties and the costs of upkeep and upgrades.

This prosecution comes after Southern Water had already agreed in 2019 to pay £126m in fines and payments to customers for “serious failures” in its sewage treatment works and deliberately misreporting its performance. 

And the system is certainly in need of upgrading. Much of the UK’s network of combined sewer overflow (CSO) pipes date back to Victorian times. The pipes deal with the discharge of both stormwater and domestic sewage wastewater during heavy storms. When wastewater exceeds the system’s capacity, storm and sewage water is directed into CSOs, which flow into streams, rivers and the sea, through outfall pipes. CSOs provide a failsafe during heavy storms to stop household domestic sewage waste and stormwater backing up through the system and flooding people’s homes and streets.

South Coast Sirens

However, with more houses being built and our population growing every year, there is additional pressure being put onto the current system in place to the point where there needs to be very little rainfall for the sewer capacity to overflow. The sewage spills are going to get increasingly worse in the years to come unless there is substantial investment in upgrading the infrastructure.

Money Talks

This week Australian investment bank Macquarie bought a majority stake in Southern Water for more than £1 billion. This investment comes four and a half years after the bank sold its shares in Britain’s biggest water supplier, Thames Water, back in 2017. Macquarie sold its final stake in the company for an estimated £1.35bn, just months before the Environment Agency prosecuted the water company for extensive pollution in the Thames and other rivers between 2012 and 2014. At the time, the £20m fine was a record for this kind of offence.

The decision to allow Macquarie to invest in the UK water industry again has been questioned by many, as there are concerns that history could repeat itself. GMB, the union for water workers, has criticised the sale of Southern Water to foreign investors and are now campaigning to nationalise the water industry.

GMB National Officer Gary Carter said: “Whilst far away private owners have pocketed billions of pounds that should have been used to maintain our water systems; our beaches, rivers and oceans have been poisoned to give them a few extra quid.

CREDIT: Dave Young

“Swapping private owners won’t bring the investment and commitment to the environment required to flush out the problems that face our water system.

“The waters in the South East need cleaning up and, it’s time to bring back the tap into public ownership, where the needs of local customers and Southern Waters employees are put first.”

With regular sewage spills and record-breaking fines over the last year, it may come as a shock that the CEO of Southern Water, Ian McAulay, received a £500k bonus on top of his yearly salary, meaning his total remuneration exceeded £1 million. The company believe there have been profound changes since Mr McAulay became CEO in 2017 and added that the chief executive was under a two-year pay freeze and bonus reduction, following his own request.

A Siren’s call for change

Wild swimmer and new resident Mary Jane Baxter was shocked to learn of the pollution “… for three days now we’ve been unable to swim along the coast here from Hastings all the way up to Bexhill and beyond due to pollution warnings. St Leonards might have a three-star beach but what’s the point if the water quality’s so poor you can’t go in? … There have been several ‘no swimming’ days in just a handful of weeks. It’s disgusting.”

South Coast Sirens, a pressure group set up by regular sea users in the Sussex area is campaigning for clean bathing water along the South Coast. Independent sea-water quality testing will begin in the Brighton area thanks to generous local support for the group’s crowdfunding appeal. There are now more than 800 ‘Sirens’, their end goal is to stop sewage releases into the sea all around the South Coast, to get Southern Water to commit to stopping sewage outlets, and invest in upgrades to their outdated system.

Group member Jo Godden said: “Along our coast, this is happening all the time … most swimmers don’t even go out when it’s raining, and we certainly can’t put our heads under the water if we do. I think enjoyment of our coastline is a human right … When you are driving a company to make a profit rather than providing a service, something has gone disastrously wrong. We feel that to have clean water in the 21st century is not asking too much, especially when we pay for it so heavily.”

Last year, the UK was ranked as one of the worst European countries for its bathing water quality following a survey by the European Environment Agency.

Helping your local shores

The Environment Agency has introduced a new campaign this summer to urge people to become #WaterWarriors and make the right choices when visiting beaches, rivers and lakes. If you would like to protect your shores, here are some ways you can help.

• Check the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website before going swimming. The website provides instant, easy access to information on over 400 bathing waters in England, including the latest water quality classification.

• Only flush the 3Ps – pee, poo and paper.

• Never pour fats and oils down the sink as these can cause blockages known as fatbergs in drains and sewers.

• Never flush wet wipes and sanitary products down the loo. 

• Always take your rubbish away from the beach. 

• Always bag and bin your dog’s poo. 

• Never pour waste liquids or throw litter down surface water drains.

CREDIT: Dave Young

The worst effects were experienced around the access road serving the Bulverhythe beach huts, a number of which became flooded with raw sewage. The spill ran on down into the sea.

Hastings Borough Council closed the beach the next day in consequence, advising people not to go onto the beach or onto the sea within the immediate area. By Saturday the Environment Agency were advising against swimming at Pelham and St Leonards beaches either. But, as it happened, the weather over the weekend was cool, and the sea choppy from blustery winds, so that few bathers would have been attracted in any event. 

Southern Water pledged to apply themselves to repairing the leak “around the clock”, and there was certainly a heavy build-up of service vehicles in attendance over the weekend. At the time of going to press, it was unclear what success they were having, or for how long the adjacent beaches might be affected. 

In July the company was fined £90m after a case brought by the Environment Agency exposed them as having deliberately dumped raw sewage into the sea at 17 sites off Kent, West Sussex and Hampshire with nearly 7,000 illegal spills between 2010 and 2015. The trial judge said that the company had shown “a shocking and wholesale disregard for the environment” and that the offences had been committed deliberately by its then board of directors in order to avoid the costs of upkeep and upgrades.

How good are humans at seeing what might go wrong in their schemes? In the past few days there have been several flood warnings issued by the Environment Agency via the BBC Weather pages. They detailed the likelihood that the Powdermill Stream would flood Crowhurst Cricket Ground and local housing, and that the Combe Haven river might flood not only Bexhill Road recreation ground but also adjacent housing. 

A plan to ensure that the Tier 1 housing site on Bexhill Road inside the Countryside Park boundary does not flood is being designed by specialist environmental assessors, Ambiental. In draft, it includes mention of a non-return valve, large bunds or banks to stem floods, and extra ‘ponds’ to be engineered. The nominated sites for these ponds show that they are in places where the ground is already flooded regularly. These sites are full up now, so something seems wrong with that general concept. You can’t pile water on water.

Current flooding at Combe Valley
PIC: David Dennis

Some people in Crowhurst are concerned that Ambiental-led action to save the Tier 1 site for a housing estate on the natural 12,000-year-old flood plain, will cause the Combe Haven valley annual flood to rise so high that it backs up into their village in mid-winter, when rains are at their heaviest. Is this possible? 

Having walked every inch of the 1066 Trail and Bulverhythe paths through the floods (wearing shoulder-high waders), I can see their cause for concern. The Powdermill stream runs past, not into, Crowhurst Lake. It is just a level-bedded shallow stream in summer with many Beautiful Demoiselles (Calopteryx virgo) gracing it, which flows out into the Combe Valley in a separate channel. Around halfway down the valley it joins the main Combe Haven flow. It has no rapids or falls, and water moves at a slow rate.

Once that river rises, as it does each winter, then the whole valley is flooded to a depth of several feet. This may slow the exit of water from Crowhurst. I cannot state that it will back up and flood Crowhurst for certain, but what I can say is that at present there does not seem to be any planning for that event within the overall pre-planning actions being taken by Hastings Borough Council. 

Admittedly the horse-riding and cycle track greenway looks clear of potential flood on higher ground. It seems to protect Crowhurst. But that is a false sense of security, because the water in the Powdermill is hidden down in a ditch well below the greenway when it passes under the by-pass bridge. The valley is now flooded right to that bridge. I have asked for comment on the final Ambiental plan and the implications for Crowhurst but have not had a reply. 

Almost all council activity is currently halted by the General Election we all know and some love. So we will have to be patient and wait until January 2020 for 20-20 vision on local flooding. In the meantime, keep checking the flood warnings. Human errors are often made by not fully understanding the forces of nature.