South West Water fined a RECORD £8m for 'horrendous' sewage spills 'at Cornwall' and Devon beaches

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026 · last updated 30 September 2026.

South West Water has been ordered to pay £7,867,733 — the largest ever environmental fine in the South West — after pleading guilty to 18 charges covering hundreds of sewage spills across Devon and Cornwall between 2015 and 2021. Judge Jo Matson called the offences "horrendous" and found the firm guilty of "reckless failures" at Plymouth Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. The fine is more than three times higher than a previous penalty handed to the same company in 2023. Politicians and campaigners branded it yet another "slap on the wrist" a company of this size can simply absorb.

On one occasion, untreated sewage gushed through Polperro Harbour's wall on a bank holiday weekend and South West Water took 10 hours to respond despite alarms sounding.

Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire said South West Water had poisoned North Cornwall's rivers and seas "with impunity" and demanded prison sentences for executives overseeing illegal dumping.

Andy Burnham used his Labour conference speech to call the water industry a 'symbol of what has gone wrong with Britain' and pledge to repeal Thatcher-era limits on public ownership.