![\"Plymouth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0_Plymouth-and-Sutton-MP-Luke-Pollard-wild-swimming.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBathers given second pollution warning in just a week<\/p>\n
13:17, 10 Oct 2026Updated 14:47, 10 Oct 2026<\/p>\n
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Plymouth and Sutton MP Luke Pollard wild swimming(Image: Luke Pollard’s office)<\/p>\n
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard says he is \u201cdisgusted\u201d with South West Water after swimmers were told not to bathe at the Hoe for the second time in a week due to sewage.<\/p>\n
The Sutton and Devonport<\/a> MP took to social media to call the situation \u201cunacceptable\u201d and demanded water company bosses \u201cget off their ****s\u201d.<\/p>\n It came after the Environment Agency (EA) issued advice for swimmers to avoid Plymouth Hoe<\/a> East and West due to an \u201cunpermitted discharge\u201d stemming from operational issues at Plymouth Central Wastewater Treatment Works.<\/p>\n Plymouth City Council<\/a> today said that \u201cbathing is not advised due to pollution from sewage\u201d at both Plymouth Hoe East and Plymouth Hoe West.<\/p>\n It said the incident began at 1.34pm yesterday, October 9, and will continue until tomorrow, October 11.<\/p>\n Normally, the water quality at the two sites is rated as \u201cexcellent\u201d, but the latest warning comes just a week after bathers were told to avoid the Hoe due to a sewage discharge from a storm overflow at the River Plym.<\/p>\n The warning was put in place last Saturday, October 3, and removed on Monday, October 5.<\/p>\n Mr Pollard said he received an email yesterday evening from the Environment Agency to say it was advising people not to swim off the Hoe because of \u201cSouth West Water\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Pollard said: \u201cI\u2019m frankly disgusted with them (South West Water). It\u2019s simply unacceptable for them to treat Plymouth with such disrespect.<\/p>\n \u201cWell done to the Environment Agency and the regulators for doing what they should do, holding these water companies to account and it is now time for South West Water\u2019s management to get off their ***** and to put in play the emergency measures that we need so the water that goes into Plymouth Sound is safe for Plymouth to swim in.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is simply not acceptable. This is the second time that this has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n The Labour MP said he was unhappy that South West Water had not notified people about the sewage incident and said: \u201cEither they didn\u2019t know or they didn\u2019t want to share it with us, Both are unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n And he demanded: \u201cSouth West Water, pull your finger out. This is not good enough at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The EA has said that an investigation is ongoing and that it would include enforcement action “where necessary”.<\/p>\n South West Water today told PlymouthLive: \u201cWe understand the concern that advice against bathing can cause for swimmers and other water users and are reviewing the latest information following recent rainfall while continuing to work closely with the Environment Agency.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of our ongoing work in the area, we have been undertaking maintenance to improve the reliability of monitoring equipment and continue to monitor water quality and review operational data.<\/p>\n \u201cProtecting bathing water quality remains a priority and we will continue to work closely with the Environment Agency as we assess the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, South West Water was fined \u00a37.8m for a series of pollution-related offences over six years<\/a>, including in Plymouth.<\/p>\n This week, Mr Pollard wrote to the chief executive of South West Water, Keith Haslett, to demand that he publish an investment plan for Plymouth Central Wastewater Works, at Cattedown, within six weeks.<\/p>\n He said the company had failed to protect water quality, and people in Plymouth \u201chave been paying the price for far too long\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Pollard said: \u201cSewage dumping is unacceptable. Underinvestment in our infrastructure is unacceptable. And the foul smelling pong at Cattedown is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt is vital they make clear this will not be laid at the foot of billpayers, and that investment in our infrastructure comes from South West Water profits.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Parliament returns, I will be voting for Andy Burnham’s plans to increase public control over water companies and to repeal the ban on public ownership of water.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the meantime South West Water must invest in its crumbling infrastructure and fix this mess\u201d<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to join PlymouthLive on WhatsApp and we’ll send breaking news and top stories directly to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bathers given second pollution warning in just a week 13:17, 10 Oct 2026Updated 14:47, 10 Oct 2026 Plymouth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[243,194057,74716,1397,2053,103192,174007,229,90,44084,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-798523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bbc","tag-cattedown","tag-devonport","tag-environment","tag-labour-party","tag-plymouth-city-council","tag-plymouth-hoe","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-south-west-water","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}