Southern Water to answer questions from residents at Hastings drop-in event

It takes place at the Stade Hall. The town has suffered a number of issues this year including major flooding of the town centre and an area of Bulverhythe, sewage in the sea with beaches closed and pollution in Alexandra Park.

Action groups from across the town will be holding a protest outside the Stade Hall as 12 noon.

Katy Taylor, Chief Customer Officer for Southern Water, said: “Please join us and find out how we’re preventing pollution and helping to reduce flooding in your area. I’d like to personally invite you to our Your Water Matters drop-in day on Thursday 12 October at Stade Hall, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings.

“Our team will be on hand to chat and answer your questions from 11am – 7pm, so even if you can only pop in for a few minutes, we’d love to see you.

We’ll have people there from across our business, including senior leaders, who can tell you all about how we're spending your money in the local area; financial support on offer if you’re struggling with bill payments; what’s being done to prevent local blockages, pollutions and flooding in Hastings; investigations into local misconnections that have caused pollutions, and how we’ve been working with partners to get them fixed and work taking place to resolve the recurring bursts with the main sewer in the area.

“You'll also be able to hear about our future plans to tackle the challenges of reducing our use of storm overflows, protecting the environment and water quality and securing future water supplies. It will also be a chance for you to tell us what you need from us. We really hope you can join us.”

Hastings council leaders have said they could take legal action against Southern Water, if the company fails to provide a ‘satisfactory response’ to calls for financial compensation.

At the Full Council meeting on 19 July, Cllr Paul Barnett, leader of the council, read out a letter he was sending to Southern Water seeking a far more co-operative and open approach to the issues Southern Water are dealing with in Hastings.

Victoria Conheady, the council’s deputy chief executive said: “There have been a number of recent incidents involving Southern Water over the past two years or so. The first was a catastrophic failure of a main sewage pipe at West Marina, to the west of Cinque Ports Way and in the centre of the West of Haven beach huts, in late July 2021.

“This resulted in two prolonged discharges of raw sewage onto the beach in the area within 48 hours, and attracted much media attention and very considerable public and visitor reaction.

“At the time Southern Water said that this had never happened before, but subsequently acknowledged that there was a problem with this part of the network, and several more bursts have been reported since, with varying degrees of impact. Southern Water have spent some time developing plans to replace this pipe. Southern Water are currently predicting that all work on the sewer should be completed by May 2024.

“Very serious flooding took place in Hastings town centre on January 16, 2023, which closed the whole of Priory Meadow shopping centre for several days, causing very extensive damage. HMV only reopened its store in August 2023, and some retailers have not reopened, their stores remaining empty. There was also extensive flooding to Alexandra Park, and South Terrace, the latter leading to the emergency evacuation and temporary rehousing of a number of households.

Have you read? In pictures: Hastings town centre shops that have closed

“In February 2023 there was a further failure of the sewer at Bulverhythe Road. The failed pipe was not the same pipe as the 2021 burst, but was part of the same network, approximately 150m north. The flooding affected homes and commercial premises, led to contamination of the Combe river and caused a collapse of the river bank and subsidence of the highway and pavement.”

A Hastings Council spokesperson said: “We have agreed with Southern Water to share important and relevant information with residents through this newsletter on a regular basis, to help make sure that you are kept up-to-date with work they are doing and other updates. We are reliant on Southern Water sharing relevant data with us and will continue to press them for timely updates.”