Fears over sewage capacity dominate major development plan scrutiny

Fears over the capacity of East Devon’s sewerage system dominated public concerns amid scrutiny of the blueprint for new housing in the district.

A wide-ranging plan that identifies which areas of East Devon can be developed for housing and employment purposes all the way to 2042 underwent further scrutiny before a second public consultation.
The issue raised the most by public speakers, who were addressing the strategic planning committee as it debated the prospective new local plan, related to the likelihood of sewage infrastructure actually being improved before more homes are built.
The committee voted in favour of endorsing the latest draft of the local plan and putting it out for the second stage of consultation, which will begin later this month and end on 26 January.
The comments focused on the outcome of a so-called water cycle study, a long-awaited document that the council says is an independent assessment of the current state of the district’s sewerage system capacity, and, crucially, an indication of how that system would cope if thousands of homes were built without any sewer upgrade work.
Andrew Tyreman, who represents ESCAPE Exmouth (which stands for End Sewage Convoys and Pollution in Exmouth) said he welcomed the study but added he “disagrees with it”.
“There are gaps in the evidence, unanswered questions and simple mistakes,” he said.
“It fails to expose South West Water’s poor performance that led this council to issue a vote of no confidence in the company.”
He added that his group’s experience was that “the current network is not coping”, and that the water cycle study had not included comparisons between local areas or regionally in terms of sewage spills.
Peter Williams, from the Otter Valley Association that has around 2,000 members, said he supported the water cycle study’s conclusion that “there should be no additional housing for Honiton, Feniton, and the Fluxton catchments without extra capacity”.
He added that the group had shown, through Environment agency data, that the River Otter was in the worst 20 per cent of England’s rivers in terms of its health, largely because of untreated sewage discharges.
“Honiton is projected to have the largest proportional increase in homes [under this prospective local plan] and significant growth around it, and so Honiton would require a significant increase in capacity,” he added.
“The study says there should be no additional housing load without first addressing clear deficits in capacity, and the silver lining is that it says South West Water could remedy critical issues by bringing forward scheduled updates in Honiton to a 2030 completion.”
Mr Williams stated he wanted the council to “require South West Water to bring froward plans before housing development in the Otter catchment area”.
Councillor Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Rockbeare & Whimple), the chair of the strategic planning committee, said that was “absolutely what we will be looking to do”.
“It is exactly that measure the report looks at, the phasing and delay of development,” he said.
Later adding: “Development in the Honiton catchment will be delayed if there is insufficient water or sewage infrastructure.”
Cllr Olive has also previously stated the forthcoming new community, Marlcombe, could even seek to use an alternative waste water firm other than South West Water if it felt such a move was necessary.
Councillor Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley), the leader of East Devon District Council, said he thought the report showed that Haskoning, the company that carried out the work, had been “trying to get blood from a stone” in terms of extracting the necessary information from South West Water.
“There was swerving, bobbing and weaving questions by South West Water to questions from Haskoning on behalf of this council,” he said.
“And follow-ups were supposed to happen but something went awry. Essentially, the clock has been running down and we have been developing our local plan when we should have had information from South West Water two or three years ago, and we have had to really push them to do so.”
The water cycle study, commissioned by East Devon District Council and carried out by sustainability consultants Haskoning, provides independent analysis of immediate and potential future concerns over various water and water-related infrastructure issues, notably waste water treatment plants.
Concerningly, its new analysis suggests four of East Devon’s 16 waste water treatment plants are already running beyond their dry weather flow capacity permit limits, and that seven – including Maer Lane in Exmouth, Feniton and Otterton – would be doing so if house building targets in East Devon are hit without any sewer infrastructure upgrades or additions.
The water company said its plants in East Devon were not exceeding their limits, and that if they were, the company would be facing enforcement action.
South West Water added that it wanted to work with East Devon to ensure it could support the council’s housing strategy, and that it would always aim to ensure extra demand, including through housing development, could be met with improvements or additions to the sewage system.