Polluted chalk streams in England’s South Downs infuriated voters in Chichester, a seat that had been Conservative for a century Jon Ungoed-Thomas Jon Ungoed-Thomas Sun 7 Jul 2024 06.00 BST
The River Lavant, one of the world’s rare chalk streams, is a precious and much-loved habitat in the South Downs, but has been blighted by hundreds of sewage spills.
Its chalk-filtered waters rise in East Dean, West Sussex, described by locals as the “quintessential English village”, flow south to Lavant and carve a route to Chichester. It flows out to sea via Chichester harbour.
In February the village green and pond at East Dean were covered in what residents described as sewage with a film of fungus. The stench was described as “overpowering”. The picturesque green was still cordoned off on Friday with signs warning that it was “unsafe for public access”.
The disturbing plight of the Lavant and other rivers across the country – and the failure of the water companies to protect them – helped power the Liberal Democrats to win 71 seats on Thursday. The Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey hailed the party’s success the “best results in a century”.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The River Lavant, one of the world’s rare chalk streams, is a precious and much-loved habitat in the South Downs, but has been blighted by hundreds of sewage spills.
Its chalk-filtered waters rise in East Dean, West Sussex, described by locals as the “quintessential English village”, flow south to Lavant and carve a route to Chichester.
In February the village green and pond at East Dean were covered in what residents described as sewage with a film of fungus.
The disturbing plight of the Lavant and other rivers across the country – and the failure of the water companies to protect them – helped power the Liberal Democrats to win 71 seats on Thursday.
Shortly before 4am on Friday at the Chichester count, a shell-shocked Gillian Keegan, education secretary in Sunak’s cabinet, lost her seat to Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat candidate who pledged to champion better water quality.
Davey visited Chichester during the campaign as one of the Lib Dems target seats, pledging that his party’s bold proposals “will end the Conservative sewage scandal”.
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