Singer Feargal Sharkey hits out at Kent sea sewage pollution

Singer Feargal Sharkey has joined protesters on Kent's Tankerton beach to hit out at pollution by Southern Water.

The former Undertones front man described continued sewage releases into the sea as "simply scandalous".

SOS Whitstable, which staged the demo, said the firm's data showed it released 648 hours of sewage, on 208 occasions, into the sea at Whitstable in 2022.

Southern Water said it was investing significant resources to reduce the use of storm overflows.

But Sharkey said: "It is simply scandalous - I'm fairly certain that that's exactly why this has become the huge political issue.

"Because normal people - how could you not be affronted? How could you not be filled with anything but a deep righteous, furious anger?

"That you put your trust in the system. You bring your children to beaches like this on a Bank Holiday Monday, later discover those children were swimming in somebody else's waste."

Boxer Barry McGuigan, who also joined the protest at the weekend, said: "I've lived here 34 years. Tankerton is just down the road from us. That is the busiest tipping point in Kent.

"You know, when you see this - and it doesn't happen all the time - but you see the colour of the ocean changing and you see this stuff coming in towards the shore. It makes you want to throw up."

Campaigner Sally Burtt-Jones said SOS (Save Our Seas) Whitstable was set up after Southern Water was handed a £90m fine.

She said: "Two years on, looking at the number of releases that we're seeing, we have seen a reduction of around 2% in the last two years, so unfortunately we don't feel like we can stop protesting."

Whitstable is one of Southern Water's six project areas where the company is looking at solutions regarding storm overflows.

The company aims to cut sewage releases by 20% by 2025, and has a long term goal of reducing waste water spills in Whitstable by 90% by 2029.

Dr Nick Mills, from Southern Water, said Whitstable was at the "forefront" of work being done to cut the use of storm overflow, which included installing sustainable drainage schemes and a multi-million pound upgrade to Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works.

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