Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has today held a public meeting to give local people the chance to scrutinise the actions of their water company, Southern Water.

Over 75 of Caroline’s constituents heard from Southern Water’s management team about the steps they were taking to reduce pollution incidents, invest in the physical water infrastructure, and improve communication with customers.

Caroline took the opportunity to request that Southern Water clarify why they were slower to identify incidents than campaign group Surfers Against Sewage and the Environment Agency. A pipe that burst on 2 July and closed Lee on the Solent and Hill Head beaches was not spotted by Southern Water’s Rivers and Seas Watch team.

Many of the questions asked by attendees at Christ Church on Stoke Road and on Microsoft Teams were in relation to housing and Southern Water’s infrastructure capability, salaries, dividends and interest transparency, and concerns about the smell from Peel Common’s wastewater treatment works.

Speaking after the public meeting, Caroline said: “I’m really glad to have given people the opportunity to speak directly to their water supplier. There is rightly a lot of frustration around here about the number of pollution incidents in our coastal waters, which has lead to a general mistrust in Southern Water’s attitude to its customers.

“The level of interest in this event just shows what an important issue this is for everyone in Gosport, Lee on the Solent, Stubbington and Hill Head. I’m grateful to Southern Water staff for having the courage to show up and speak up, answering many questions from attendees.  I hope the feedback they received will be channelled into improving service levels to our area.”