'Cotswolds rivers have been pumped full of filthy sewage – the PM must act'

Summary

There are calls for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to overhaul the “broken” water industry after thousands of hours of sewage spills were recorded in Cotswold watercourses over the last year. Data compiled by environmental charity the Rivers Trust suggest there were at least 3,470 hours of sewage spillage in the North Cotswolds during that time.

Details

Their map suggests sewage spilled into the Evenlode at Moreton-in-Marsh for 1,143.25 hours and there were another 367.28 hours of spillage at Broadwell. At Andoversford , there were 1,137.75 hours of spillage into the Coln while in Bourton-on-the-Water sewage spilled into the Windrush for more than 791 hours and another 30 or so hours at Northleach in 2025, according to the map.

Liberal Democrat county councillor Paul Hodgkinson (Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach) is now demanding that Andy Burnham make the radical overhaul of the water industry one of his first acts as Prime Minister. His party is calling for water companies into special administration immediately and permanently restructure the company as a mutual run for the benefit of its customers.

They want all existing water companies transition into public-benefit mutuals, owned by the people rather than the state, ensuring they are run for public health and the environment instead of private profit. And they want a powerful new clean water authority to be set up to enforce strict environmental standards.

Cllr Hodgkinson was recently joined by his party’s national leader Ed Davey at Andoversford, which has been subject to large sewage spillages in recent years. “For years, people across our area have watched in anger as rivers like the Coln and Windrush have been pumped full of filthy sewage, all while foreign asset managers and corporate executives pocket billions,” Cllr Hodgkinson said.

“It is an absolute insult to local families that Thames Water is reporting profits while our local environment is routinely trashed and our water bills continue to rise. “Andy Burnham has a clear choice in his first weeks in Number 10: stand up for communities like ours, or let the same broken, polluting system continue.

“We need a clean break from the failed privatisation experiment – wiping the slate clean of vulture capital debt and handing our water infrastructure back to the people who actually use and rely on it.” Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP for the North Cotswolds, has also been lobbying on the issue and has held public meetings with all the main water companies for almost 20 years.

He said: “These have produced significant results over the years, for example the mile long, meter wide overspill pipe in Moreton in Marsh, providing flood prevention for the southern half of the town, following the terrible flood in 2007.

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Report source: Gloucestershire Live