‘No pollution found’: Environment Agency response
A parish council in Telford will be writing to MPs in a bid to get environmental watchdogs back to the table over the future of a much-loved brook.
A councillor said that the Environment Agency (EA) has “failed to attend follow-up meetings” after attending one in August and taking two samples from the Hurley Brook in the summer.
Councillor Phil Millward (Labour, Hadley Castle ward) told Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council on Tuesday (December 2) that a meeting with representatives from Severn Trent Water, the EA and Friends of Hurley Brook in August had undertaken to investigate and resolve the “ongoing pollution” in the brook, in Leegomery.
Councillor Millward said the water company has made some progress by stopping the “discharge of suds and foam and continues to work on identifying and addressing other sources of pollution”.
However he noted “with concern” the EA “failed to attend” a follow-up meeting on October 23.
“The EA stated that they found no pollution in the brook but acknowledged that the water quality falls below the criteria for safe bathing.”
Councillor Millward’s motion, approved at the meeting on Tuesday, agreed to write to local MPs “requesting their intervention to bring the EA back to the table”.
They will also be writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment over the matter.
The motion also agreed to call on the EA to work collaboratively with all stakeholders until the brook’s water quality is restored to a standard “fit enough to bathe in” and wildlife returns to the habitat.
The EA took water samples from the brook on July 23 and September 2 this year. Because it is in the urban area of Telford it is “unlikely” to become a ‘designated bathing water’ site.
The water tests recorded that for the “chemical parameters analysed, no pollution was identified”.
A spokesperson for the EA said: “We understand local concerns and our officers have responded by testing the water in July and September which showed there was no pollution in the brook.
“The Hurley Brook is not a designated bathing water and is unlikely to become one due to its location being within the urban area of Telford.
“If members of the public would like to report any environmental concerns, they can call our 24/7 hotline on 0800 807060.”
The EA says that it does not have sufficient resource to be able to regularly attend these types of meetings.
