Until recently, Southern Water's Beachbuoy web page has been a simple facility, limited to just a few sites and arguably simply a PR exercise given the criticism frequently levelled at the company. Over the past few weeks however, we have been pleased to see that the basic function of the original page has been replaced … Continue reading Southern Water’s ‘Beachbuoy’ spill monitoring

The Solent Protection Society pollution group has made a detailed study over the past six months of the main issues that affect the environment of the Solent. Using Environment Agency data and the output from a series of questions raised with Southern Water under 'Environmental Information Requests', the group has been building a data picture … Continue reading SPS Position on pollution

(This is a 'working document' which will be updated as more detail becomes clear) In the last budget, the Solent was shortlisted as the site for one of ten Freeports to be set up in the United Kingdom. Since that time, we've seen little or no detail in the public domain regarding what the Freeport … Continue reading What might the ‘Solent Freeport’ mean for the Solent area?

Southern Water (SW) believe that new sources of fresh water are needed to mitigate the risk of future water shortages driven by increasing population and more frequent extreme weather events. At such times, the amount of fresh river water that SW can now take from the county’s two main rivers, the Test and Itchen, has … Continue reading SPS Position on Fawley desalination plant

The Solent Freeport bid was submitted by Solent Local Enterprise Partnership based on a coalition of businesses, associated local authorities and other partners. In today's budget announcement, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced that Solent has been selected as one of the eight UK sites for which Freeport's will now be developed. This report from the … Continue reading Solent Freeport bid shortlisted in the Chancellor’s Budget announcement

What do we do with the reports on Marine Licence Applications which we publish every month on this website? Every month our council considers these applications and decides whether SPS should respond to the consultation invitation. Often, of course, there is no need for SPS to get involved but sometimes we respond, usually with requests … Continue reading Actions from our Marine Licence Application updates

The following article written by our Chairman, David Sizer, appears in the Autumn edition of 'The Yachter', the house magazine of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club. The Solent Protection Society (SPS) is a registered charity which was established over sixty years ago at the time when controversially, a Nuclear Power Station had been proposed in … Continue reading SPS Article in ‘The Yachter’ – Autumn 2020

The Environment Agency is the environmental regulator for the water industry in England, tasked with oversight of the nine water and sewerage companies that operate in England. On Friday October 2, 2020, the Environment Agency published their long awaited ‘Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) results 2019 for water and sewerage companies’ document and we are deeply … Continue reading Southern Water – The worst performing water company in the UK

Concerns about disturbance and pollution Worldwide, ports, industry, housing and associated infrastructure have crowded onto estuaries that were previously quiet marshy areas, the preserve of birds, invertebrates and fish; places of peace and beauty. In many cases abroad, the loss of habitat, increased pollution and disturbance has destroyed these valuable environments, requiring major regeneration programmes. … Continue reading Solent European Marine Sites (SEMS)