An East Riding Councillor has called on Yorkshire Water to explain its environmental performance after new data showed storm overflow discharge hours in Hull and the East Riding have doubled since 2021. These include waste water and sewage discharges.
Speaking at a meeting of the council’s Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee, Liberal Democrat Councillor Phil Redshaw of the Cottingham North ward, challenged the water provider’s representatives over failed plans to reduce storm overflow incidents by 20% by April 2025, a target set against 2021 baseline data. Instead, the most recent figures show a 20% increase in overflow incidents, rising from 5,640 to 6,774, and a doubling in discharge hours, from 32,898 to 66,045.
Yorkshire Water have said that discharges may have gone up because the provider now monitors all Combined Sewer Overflows. These are available to be viewed in real time on an interactive map.
“Yorkshire Water made clear commitments to reduce spills and protect our local rivers and coastlines,” said Cllr. Redshaw. “Yet we are seeing the exact opposite, more incidents, longer discharge hours, and little transparency about what’s being done to fix it. Residents deserve honest answers and real progress, not just new promises.”
The councillor has called for greater accountability from the provider. He has requested Yorkshire Water:
- Publish a site-by-site action plan for East Yorkshire, with funding, timelines, and outcomes
- Ensure all combined sewer overflows are fully monitored and reported
- Provide quarterly public progress updates showing verified reductions in spills and discharge hours
“People across East Yorkshire have a right to know which sites are polluting their rivers and when they’ll be fixed. We welcome investment, but we need accountability. The Environment Agency has already put Yorkshire Water on notice, this committee will, hopefully continue to do the same on behalf of local residents,” said Cllr Redshaw.
In response to Cllr Redshaw’s calls, a Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We’ve been investing significantly to reduce storm overflow discharges to help improve river health across Yorkshire. Between 2023 and April 2025, we invested over £180m to build storage capacity across the network and this helped to reduce storm discharges across the region by 20%.
“Since April, we’re underway with the next phase of investment which is our £1.5bn infrastructure programme to reduce storm discharges and increase storage capacity across the network over the next five years. This is part of our largest ever environmental investment programme of £8.3bn over the next five years. We look forward to continuing to update the scrutiny committee on our progress and increasing awareness about the work we’re doing to improve.”
Also in response to the councillor’s comments, Yorkshire Water have highlighted projects already outlined for Hull and East Yorkshire. These include:
- £26m investment planned over the next 5 years to continue work to improve flood resilience for the city through Living with Water
- £1.4m investment into Hornsea CSO pumping station this year to increase resilience and protect blue flag status at that bathing water with further work planned in our next business period – 2030-2035 as well as a recently completed £1.4m investment to reduce storm discharges into the North Sea at Mappleton
- £15.9m investment to upgrade 5 East Yorkshire Wastewater Treatment Sites at Leven, Cherry Burton, Leconfield, Watton and Easington
- £100m investment in Bridlington over next 5 years to improve asset performance, drive down spills and improve bathing waters
- In 2023 Yorkshire Water started a £31m investment programme to improve water quality at the Top Hill Low wastewater treatment works, which is also home to the nature reserve, popular with volunteers and nature lovers alike
- The provider’s projects also include 22.5km of Hull’s clean water network being earmarked for replacement over the next two years, which marks an over £8.8m investment. This is part of Yorkshire Water’s plan to invest £406m to replace over 1,000km of mains across Yorkshire in the next five years. This includes projects in:
- £1.1m invested at North Ferriby (mains replacement started in April 2025)
- £2.4m invested at Lothsome Bridge/Rawell
- £3.8m invested at Greatfield Estate
- £1m invested at Ings Road Estate
- £326k invested at Sunk Island
- £225k invested at Etton
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
