Press release

South West Water legal challenge to reduce charges fails

The water company tried to have 12 charges against it for sewage spills from two sewage pumping stations in Cornwall dropped.

From:
Environment Agency
Published
14 March 2025

The charges relate to alleged offences between 2016 and 2021 at two sewage pumping stations.

The Environment Agency has won a case against South West Water which tried to prevent 12 charges relating to sewage discharges in Cornwall being taken forward in an impending prosecution. 

South West Water had launched an abuse of process case against the agency, but District Judge Matson gave a written judgment on Friday 7 March against the company following a hearing held at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court in January. 

Clarissa Newell of the Environment Agency said:  

We are a firm but fair regulator which takes pride in knowing our work protects the environment. South West Water’s attempt to cut down the number of charges we intend to prosecute it with only benefits the water company and we would rather see its effort spent on compliance.  

Our duty is to hold those suspected of harming the environment to account and now this hurdle has been overcome we will proceed with our legal action.

The charges relate to alleged offences between 2016 and 2021 at both the Harlyn and Holywell sewage pumping stations for sewage discharges outside of the company’s environmental permits.  

The company argued the charges should be dropped claiming that the agency had acted contrary to its own policy of consistency, saying data had been treated differently from other water companies’ data. They also said that the installation and collection of environmental data monitoring (EDM) equipment that the company was required by the agency to use was inconsistent with agency policies. 

But the agency successfully argued that it had called for the EDM equipment to be installed at the two sites as they were close to bathing waters which could be affected by sewage spills. 

The agency also maintained that South West Water did not fully understand its sewage pumping station assets or the permitting process and relevant policies relating to them. 

There was no evidence, said the agency, that EDM coverage did not meet Environment Agency polices and so was not inconsistent.   

South West Water will appear in court at a date yet to be fixed to give its plea to the charges and for a full hearing on the case. 

Background

The charges: 

  1. That you from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.  

  2. That you from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  3. That you from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  4. That you from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  5. That you from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  6. That you from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 at Harlyn Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into the Harlyn Stream. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. 

  7. That you from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.  

  8. That you from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  9. That you from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  10. That you from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  11. That you from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.  

  12. That you from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station, Cornwall, otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, caused a number of water discharge activities, namely discharges into an unnamed stream that flows onto Holywell Bay Beach. Contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

Updates to this page

Published 14 March 2025