Any sewer overflow is one too many says Leighton Buzzard MP as he welcomes planned action from Anglian Water

South West Beds MP Andrew Selous has welcomed news from Anglian Water that they are working to cut sewage overflow rates.

Environment Agency figures released this week show a rise in sewer overflow incidents, including Stanbridgeford near Leighton Buzzard which had 126 incidents in 2023, amounting to around 90 days. A site near Woburn had 72 incidents, amounting to 38 days.

Mr Selous said: "One sewer overflow is one too many. The average number of overflows fell every year from 2018 to 2022 and only increased in 2023 because it was by far the wettest year on record. It is good to see another £1 billion of investment by Anglian Water in storm overflow reduction between 2025 and 2030. I have met with the staff at the treatment plant in Leighton Buzzard and have a meeting with Anglian Water next week to talk about this and flooding issues locally.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We are disappointed to see our spill numbers have increased this year. However, we are confident that investments we’ve been making to reduce spills have moved the dial in the right direction and spills would have been considerably higher without it.

“It is important to acknowledge the exceptionally wet weather we had late last year, which meant that 70% of our spills were in Q4 alone and in stark comparison to the extremely dry year in 2021, as climate change continues to result in more extreme weather events.”

Anglian is installing storm tanks and wetlands in Leighton Linslade, Odell, Wrestlingworth and Poppyhill and a new wetland will be installed in Dunston totalling £7.6m.

It is also investing £44m in increasing the treatment capacity to cater for the population growth in places like Sandy, Clapham, and Marston Moretaine.