Government ministers could slap fines of up to £250 million on water companies for serious sewage spills, Parliament has been told.
Don't swim warnings were issued in the region last summer after sewage appeared to have been pumped into the North Sea on several locations along the North East coast. Northumbrian Water, which supplies Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and parts of North Yorkshire was forced to defend the level of raw sewage discharged into Northumberland's rivers and seas last year after an investigation by Channel 4's dispatches programme found that 61 pipes across the region could be spilling untreated sewage into waterways and operating without permits.
Lord Benyon said the option to dramatically increase the penalty cap remained on the table. The environment minister and Tory frontbencher argued that the current upper limit of £250,000 was "not a significant enough deterrent" and that "very serious fines" should be a sanction for polluting firms.
He moved to reassure peers following reports, previously denied by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, that Environment Secretary Therese Coffey was backing away from tougher penalties ahead of a consultation on changes to the cap. In addition to imposing civil variable monetary payments (VMPs), the Environment Agency can take action through the courts, including pursuing criminal prosecutions with unlimited fines.
However, the watchdog using direct civil sanctions can offer a quicker method of enforcement. Lord Benyon responded to a question in the Lords on the proposed increase of the maximum penalty by saying: "Defra is preparing to consult on plans to expand the use of, and raise the cap on, penalties that the Environment Agency can impose on water companies for serious breaches of rules, as the Prime Minister and our Secretary of State have made clear.
"All options are on the table, including a £250 million cap."
He added: "We will ensure that our regulators have all the powers they need to hold polluters to account. We are absolutely not resiling from anything that has been announced.
"It is right, for example, to look at the variable monetary penalties. They are currently capped at £250,000, which we do not believe is a significant enough deterrent.
"However, very serious fines can and should be a sanction for water companies that knowingly break the law. There is the criminal sanction as well."
Baroness Parminter, a Liberal Democrat peer, said: "In the last financial year, 22 water company bosses received over £14 million in bonuses, despite sewage spilling out into our rivers and on to our beaches, killing wildlife and harming swimmers. Why are the Government not looking at stopping water company bosses from being given bonuses until they clean up their act?"
Lord Benton said: "Through the regulator, Ofwat, we have provided for water companies to be held to account where they are rewarding people in a way that is disproportionate to the service that they provide. That is a change that this Government have made and it is being followed through by the regulator."
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