Residents 'hopelessly let down' by developers and water companies says MP

Shropshire Star

An MP says Shropshire residents have been "hopelessly let down" by developers and water companies after raw sewage has entered their homes.  North Shropshire MP, Helen Morgan has pressed the Government to review planning regulations surrounding the adoption of sewage networks.

Transcript

00:00I beg to move that this House has considered the role of water companies in new housing

00:04development planning.

00:05Thank you very much Mrs Leal, but it's a pleasure to serve under your chairship today.

00:10Now it's something of a cliche for a Liberal Democrat to be talking about sewage, but today

00:16I'm breaking the mould and instead of talking about sewage in seas, lakes and rivers, I'm

00:21talking about sewage in people's homes and gardens.

00:25Now buying a home in the UK is not easy.

00:28You spend years and years saving penny after penny, and when you finally complete and sign

00:33on the dotted line, you're both relieved and delighted, and what you are not expecting

00:38is to be forced to become an expert in complex regulations around drainage and the planning

00:44process.

00:45And most of all, you're not expecting raw sewage to start backing up into the manhole

00:50covers in your garden, in the drains, or worst case scenario, in your downstairs loo.

00:56But unfortunately that's what some of my constituents have had to deal with when buying

00:59or living near newly built houses in North Shropshire, and I think the whole House should

01:04be asking themselves how any water company, developer, conveyancer or local authority

01:11could think that this situation was acceptable.

01:14Now during my time as MP for North Shropshire, there have been multiple incidents where constituents

01:19have been putting a troubling petition of the sewage network failing, and to be honest

01:23I'm quite angry about the lack of progress in dealing with the issue.

01:27Just two weeks ago, I attended a meeting with residents from a village in my constituency.

01:32The village has seen a relatively large amount of development in recent years, and it's low-lying

01:36and on a gentle slope.

01:38Southern Trent, the water company, has adopted the drainage system from the new developments

01:43there, so this is not a case where the dodgy developer has failed to build suitable infrastructure.

01:47But unfortunately, the village is an old medieval village, and the existing combined sewer

01:52infrastructure is inadequate to deal with the prolonged rainfall and the additional

01:57homes connected to it.

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