Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of sewage discharges affecting rivers and coastal waters in West Dorset.

The implications for West Dorset’s rivers and coastal waters will vary by location.

The first progress report on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published December 2025, shows mixed progress against each target in the Plan. Nationwide, there are early signs of investment having an impact on the frequency of spills, but this continues to be obscured by the more significant impact of rainfall on spill numbers.

The next progress report in 2030, with five additional years of data and the benefit of PR24 investment, should provide a more definitive assessment of the Plan’s effectiveness.