Campaigners say four-mile pipeline scheme for south Shropshire has 'major contradiction'
A campaign group trying to stop a sewage pipeline being built in south Shropshire says it has identified “a major contradiction’ in the plan.
An online petition “to stop the pipe” has now reached over 7,200 signatures, with locals and environmentalists worried that a four-mile pipe will be built to carry sewage effluent from Bishop’s Castle and “dump it” in the river Onny.
There are also signs along the A49 and A489 near the river highlighting the issue. Currently, the effluent is discharged from the River Kemp, a tributary of the river Clun. Regulations that apply to the Clun require any additional pollution, such as from housing development, be offset by a reduction elsewhere in the same catchment.
The Onny is home to various wildlife, including otters, kingfishers and dippers. It also contains a strong population of brown trout and grayling, and is an important site for Atlantic salmon.
However, locals are concerned that Severn Trent is planning to transport the sewage effluent over a hill into the next valley where the Onny flows.
Severn Trent is urging people not to jump to conclusions over “misinformation” that sewage could be dumped into a Shropshire river.
John Wood, from the Onny Preservation Group, says there is “an absurd contradiction at the heart of the plan” and has written to the CEOs of Severn Trent, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
“On the one hand we are told that the removal of sewage effluent from the River Clun will reduce the pollution in that river to such an extent that it will be sufficient to permit more housing development in Bishop’s Castle,” said Mr Wood.
“On the other hand, we are told that adding this very same effluent to the Onny will not harm the Onny at all. Both clearly can’t be true.
“Either the transfer of polluting sewage effluent from the Clun to the Onny will cause harm to the Onny, in which case the Environment Agency and Natural England will not be permitted to approve it, or alternatively, and unbelievably, if it could be established that no harm will in fact be done to the Onny, then it must follow that no harm is currently being done to the Clun; in which case there is no need to build the pipe at all.
“As the old adage goes, ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’.
“Approving this plan would set a terrible precedent for the rest of the country. If every time a water company faced a regulatory restriction on one river, it was just able to build a sewage pipe into the next valley, then no river would be safe”.
A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We understand that people feel passionate about rivers and we are working closely with the Environment Agency and Natural England to ensure that these proposals will not generate any negative impacts on the Clun or Onny.
“The Bishop’s Castle treatment works has consistently operated at levels below the threshold for nutrients set by the Environment Agency and is currently undergoing a £4.3m investment to go even further to reduce the levels of phosphates in the fully treated wastewater that is returned to the environment.
“Our contribution of nutrients in the Clun is therefore exceedingly low and the Environment Agency has indicated that we have made our fair share of contribution towards reducing overall nutrient levels in the Special Area of Conservation. The transfer is an offer to help other sectors – such as industry and agriculture – deliver theirs.
“We really urge people not to jump to conclusions regarding this proposal as it is leading to a lot of misinformation circulating around these plans. Once we have further clarity from the Environment and Natural England on whether this proposal is viable, we will be holding public engagement events to discuss this project in more detail.”
