Severn Trent Water commits to meeting sewage spills targets by end of year after criticism from Rushcliffe MP

Nottinghamshire’s water supplier says it is still on track to meet targets for cutting sewage spills by the end of the year following criticism from an MP.

Rushcliffe’s Labour MP James Naish spoke in Parliament last Wednesday (April 23) to highlight the importance of holding Severn Trent Water to account on its performance in controlling water pollution.

Water companies in England and Wales are regulated by non-ministerial government body Ofwat, which oversees their finances and operations.

Every five years, each company has to submit investment plans to Ofwat — called Price Review plans.

Severn Trent’s previous five-year Price Review plan — PR19 — ended last year, and its latest plan, covering the period from 2025 to 2030, has since been drawn up.

Ofwat rewards firms with financial incentives if they meet performance targets on controlling release of sewage — while compensating customers for firms that miss targets.

Severn Trent received £18m for its PR19 plan and will be getting just under £100m for its PR24 plan, which is its latest five-year plan.

However, according to Surfers Against Sewage, a grassroots environmental charity, the rewards have been given despite the firm “missing key targets” in its PR19 plan.

Ofwat said Severn Trent had met targets for six of its twelve key performance indicators.

The Surfers Against Sewage’s Water Quality Report, published in April, said: “The company’s 2024 data shows the average number of discharges per Combined Sewer Overflow was 25.4.

“In total, 1,118 overflows discharged more than 20 times in 2024, with the five worst-performing sites accounting for 1,014 spills between them.”

According to the report £301.4m in dividends were also awarded between 2023 and 2024, and £12.1bn between 1990 and 2023.

This comes as Severn Trent customers’ average yearly bills of £398 in 2024-25 are expected to rise to £583 by 2029-30.

Highlighting the figures in Parliament, Mr Naish said: “In its PR19 plan Severn Trent received an £18m reward for the quality of its plan, but in Surfers Against Sewage’s 2025 Water Quality Report it says that it failed to meet its targets every year in this period.

“Despite this its PR24 plan has been awarded £93m. Does she [the relevant minister] agree with me that it is vital Severn Trent, which serves both our constituents, is held to account properly in the PR24 period?”

Amanda Hack MP, who was leading the debate, replied to say water companies must “do their bit to clean up our waterways”.

“I was therefore proud to vote for a bill that would enable criminal charges to be made against persistent lawbreakers and introduce severe and automatic fines for offences,” she added.

Severn Trent Water told the Local Democracy Reporting Service its target was to achieve an average of 20 spills per overflow by the end of 2025.

It said it is currently on track to get to an average of 18 by December.

A spokesperson said: “We are delivering for customers, hitting our targets on leakage and blockages while also achieving the highest four-star status from the Environment Agency in each of the last five years.

“In less than 12 months we have installed over 1,500 improvements to storm overflows and we’re already seeing a positive impact.

“Looking ahead, we will be installing another 600 by the autumn and expect the number of spills to fall by over 25% to an average of 18 by December 2025.

“We’re absolutely committed in playing our part on river health, and our customers can trust that we’re moving further and faster to do it.”