Raw sewage was reportedly dumped on the coastline in Seaford after heavy rain
(Picture: Getty Images)French politicians claim raw sewage being dumped into the Channel and North Sea by the UK is affecting French coastline, fishermen and the “health of citizens”.
Three members of the En Marche party claim dumping sewage into the sea is “contrary” to the UK’s environmental commitments.
They have called on the Commissioner for the Environment to intervene.
Pierre Karleskind, Nathalie Loiseau et Stéphanie Yon-Courtin - who all belong to French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-EU En Marche party - have shared an open letter.
They said since leaving the EU, the UK has exempted itself from its environmental requirements in terms of water quality.
“Yet a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and a contracting party to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the United Kingdom is committed to preserving the seas that surround it and that we share!” the letter said.
Meanwhile Ms Yon-Courtin, member of the Fisheries Commission and Regional Councilor of Normandy, said “repeated negligence” of the UK’s wastewater management was “seriously” endangering the environment, economic activity of French fishermen and the health of its citizens.
“The English Channel and the North Sea are not dumping grounds,” she said.
Mr Karleskind, chairman of the fisheries of the European Parliament said: “We cannot accept that the United Kingdom sits down on its environmental commitments made at the time of Brexit and calls into question the efforts that have been made by Europeans over the past twenty years.”
Ms Loiseau, President of the Delegation to the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly EU/UK, said “the violation” of the trade agreement “must call for a response from the Commission”.
But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the UK’s water quality laws have been made even stronger post-Brexit.
A Defra spokesperson said: “We have also made it law for water companies to reduce the frequency and volume of discharges from storm overflows and made it law for water companies to install new monitors to report in real time any sewage discharges in their area.
“We will shortly launch our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan which will mean the largest infrastructure programme to significantly reduce storm sewage discharges in history.”
This summer, warnings have been issued to holidaymakers to avoid 50 beaches across England and Wales because the sea has been polluted by sewage.
The Safer Seas and Rivers Service, run by campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, revealed sewage had been discharged into seas at beaches in Cornwall, Devon, Sussex, Lancashire and Cumbria, among other places, and warned that bathers could be put at risk.
The most concentrated areas were across the south coast.
Water companies are allowed to release sewage into rivers and seas to prevent sewage works becoming overwhelmed during periods of heavy rain.
A spokesperson for Southern Water said: “This week’s heavy rain has fallen on to dry ground that can’t absorb surface run-off, meaning that more rain than usual has overwhelmed our network.
“This led to some overflows - which are used to protect homes, schools, businesses and hospitals from flooding - spilling excess water into the sea.
“These discharges are heavily diluted. We are dedicated to significantly reducing storm overflows and are running innovative pilot schemes across the region to reduce the amount of rainfall entering our combined sewers by 2030.”
