Weston's MP John Penrose has clarified his decision to vote against a controversial amendment of the Environment Bill which was eventually u-turned following backlash.
After a back-and-forth between the Houses of Parliament and Lords, both agreed that water companies should be made to cut raw sewage discharges.
Mr Penrose stated that the crux of the bill was to fix 200,000km of Victorian pipeline across the UK which is prone to overflows during flash downpours.
Mr Penrose told the Mercury: "Most of Britain’s Victorian sewers carry a mixture of sewage, plus rainwater runoff from roofs and roads, which means they overflow if there’s a flash downpour.
"This is not new – it has been happening ever since the first sewers were installed, centuries ago – and the new Environment Bill already includes measures to fix it.
"So it was not either true or fair to claim anyone voted in favour of dumping more sewage: the choice was between a fairly significant clean-up at a manageable cost to consumers’ water bills which I supported, or a slightly bigger one with a much larger rise in bills."
Mr Penrose added that 'both options would have meant fewer overflows, and waterways which will be cleaner than before'.
Elsewhere in the patch, North Somerset's MP Dr Liam Fox and Wells MP James Heappey, whose constituency includes Burnham, Highbridge and Cheddar, both also voted against the amendment.
Research conducted by The Rivers Trust shows that thousands of hours of raw sewage overflows were recorded in waterways across Weston and North Somerset last year.
Both Weston and North Somerset are under Wessex Water's jurisdiction, with the company responsible for 28,994 discharges, totalling 237,035 hours last year according to the Environment Agency.
A spokesman told the Mercury that it "needs the government to change legislation so developers cannot connect surface water to combined sewers, which is making the matter worse'.
They added: "There is also the need for water companies to be able to release rainwater only directly into a watercourse.
“Ofwat, the economic regulator, needs to prioritise investment, which it tightly controls to keep bills down, so water companies can get on and help solve the problem.”
Volunteer group, Cleaner Coastlines has worked to improve conditions along Weston's seafront since 2017 and has welcomed the decision to hold water companies accountable for sewage discharges.
Founder, Debbie Apted hopes more action will follow suit.
She said: "It was devastating to hear that action was not going to be taken to prevent further discharges.
"However, we welcome the u-turn and hope the government can kick-start more action to save our coastlines."
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