UK Nature and Environment

Councillors have accused water bosses of a “shocking disregard for environmental standards” over pollution in the Ouseburn.

Newcastle’s Liberal Democrats took aim at Northumbrian Water, as well as parks management charity Urban Green, on Wednesday over a “failure of corporate responsibility and environmental management” of the river. It comes after research published last year warned that pollution levels in the Ouseburn, which runs across the city and into the Tyne, posed a “significant risk” to people’s health and amid ongoing outrage over sewage spills into rivers and beauty spots across the country.

As the Labour Government introduced a new bill which could leave water company chiefs facing two years in jail for obstructing regulators, North Jesmond councillor James Coles told a Newcastle City Council meeting on Wednesday evening that the Ouseburn was facing an “environmental crisis” as a result of untreated human waste and other pollutants being dumped into it. According to data from The Rivers Trust, 2,276 hours worth of sewage spills from storm overflows into Newcastle’s waterways were counted in 2023 – totalling a duration of 9,607 hours, more than double the previous year.