Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely is being urged to vote in favour of an amendment that would altogether ban the discharge of stormwater - including sewage - into the Isle of Wight's rivers and around our coast.

UPDATE: Sewage vote sees Isle of Wight MP back reduction not ban

Today (Monday), MPs will vote for a second time on the Environment Bill.

One option is to support the Duke of Wellington's amendment to completely ban the controversial practice.

The other is to support a government amendment - published on October 26 - which it says will see the further strengthening of the bill and introduce a legal requirement to progressively reduce "the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows".

In October, when the matter first passed through Westminster, Bob Seely voted against the Duke's amendment.

Against a storm of criticism, he argued the cost of new infrastructure to prevent it was prohibitive and said customers would bear the brunt of the cost.  

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He said the Environment Bill includes binding targets on biodiversity, air quality, water, and resource and waste efficiency, as well as plans to help native species and acknowledged it was a work in progress.

After fall-out from the first vote, the government made what many saw as a u-turn - introducing a legal requirement for water companies to do more to stop the dumping of sewage.

However, critics want more to be done.

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Today, former Isle of Wight Labour parliamentary candidate and current Cowes North councillor Richard Quigley tweeted: "If Bob Seely votes in favour of the Lord's amendment on sewage and against the health and social care bill, I will dress in an outfit of his choice for a whole day and stand outside M&S telling everyone what a hero he is.

"Support the Duke of Wellington's amendment, not the government's one.

"It's what your constituents want, it's what the tourist industry wants and I think it's what you want.

"I'll be the first to congratulate you."

The Isle of Wight Green Party's Vix Lowthion tweeted: "My MP gets the chance to vote on the amendment that will reduce the amount of sewage pumped into our rivers and seas. I hope he does the right thing (but somehow I doubt it)."

In October, after the first vote, the Isle of Wight Council's environment leader Cllr Jonathan Bacon published an open letter, saying he was "shocked, amazed and perplexed" and accused Mr Seely of failing to serve the Isle of Wight.

With hours to go before today's vote, Southern Water says it is launching a task force, to cut storm overflows by 80 per cent by 2030.

The utility firm argues discharges are 95 per cent rainwater and only happen during times of heavy rain - to prevent the sewer system overflowing and causing flooding.

Ian McAulay, Southern Water's CEO, said:" There is a growing call to take action to reduce the frequency and impact of storm overflows. That is a task of scale and complexity and needs multi-sector collaboration and a join up of policy to make it happen, which of course appears difficult today."

"We will play our part in leading and driving the collaboration and investment needed."

Earlier this year, Southern Water was fined £90 million for illegally dumping sewage in the south, between 2010 and 2015.

The Isle of Wight supplier was also named among the worst for environmental performance, in a report by the Environment Agency.

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There have been a series of discharges around the Isle of Wight in recent weeks.

In August, councillors and the MP met with Southern Water to set out a timeline of its immediate and future Isle of Wight investment plans.

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