Paddle-Out Protest in Hastings, East Sussex, on May 17 2025

The Surfers Against Sewage Paddle-Outs took place nationwide on May 17 to highlight how much sewage is in the sea. This one took place in Hastings.

Transcript

00:00yes we're here today for our annual paddle out and we're asking this government one year on to

00:08put people and the environment before these profiteering water companies and we want to

00:14make sure that our message gets back to central government and the government has an opportunity

00:19now to make sure with the new water reform coming up in Parliament that we put people and our

00:26environment before profiteering water companies we want to see those natural solutions in place we

00:33want to see those water butts those containers we've had so much drought in the last two months

00:38we know the rain is coming we have climate change where are those solutions so we know that in the

00:46UK there's been over half a million outflows sewage outflows in the UK that means that's one every

00:53minute that is not good we're talking about conservation on our coastal communities we

00:58want to make sure our coastal communities are looking after the beaches here and we're part

01:04of that as a clean water action campaigner and a green councillor here in Hastings I am remain

01:12concerned about the level of discharges that are going into our waterways particularly when we've

01:19had heavy rainfall and I'm also concerned that the Environment Agency don't have the resources to

01:26test all year round that is something that we've been pushing for right from the get-go is year-round

01:32testing of our waters so that we know they're safe people use the water all year round and so we should

01:39have a good clear picture of the quality of our water throughout the year hi I'm Helena

01:44Dollymore I'm the Member of Parliament for Hastings Rye and the Villages great to be here with so many

01:49residents protesting yet again at the failures of Southern Water in Parliament I sit on the cross

01:56party Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee and we've been calling in the water bosses one by

02:02one to have them answer for their failures this week we heard from Thameswater some pretty shocking

02:08things about how they've been running that company and the huge bonuses and dividends they've been

02:12paying out really pleased that the government is acting to ban their bonuses and we're passing

02:17legislation to crack down on the bad behavior of the water companies but we in Hastings and Rye

02:22need to keep having our voices heard we need to keep making a stand the Clean Water Action Group here

02:27do amazing work testing the sea locally and Surfers Against Sewage I work with at a national level

02:32campaigning against this stuff so let's keep having our voices heard and saying this has got to end

02:37we got it wonderful thank you very much everybody