By Sam Hawcroft
Yorkshire Water has been given the lowest possible environmental rating after pollution incidents across its network rose sharply – as a Hornsea campaigner continues to press the company for greater investment in the town’s sewer system.
The Environment Agency has downgraded Yorkshire Water from two stars to one, classing it as a “poor performing company” in its annual Environmental Performance Assessment.
The regulator recorded 260 pollution incidents from Yorkshire Water’s sewerage assets during 2025, compared with 151 the previous year – an increase of more than 70 per cent and the company’s highest total since 2011. Of those, 13 were classed as serious pollution incidents.
The assessment covers Yorkshire Water’s network across the region and does not represent a downgrade of Hornsea’s bathing water, which Yorkshire Water says retains its “Excellent” classification.
However, the findings come amid continuing concern in Hornsea over storm-overflow discharges and calls from local campaigner David Rhodes for further investment.
Mr Rhodes recently met Miles Cameron, bathing water partnerships manager at Yorkshire Water, alongside ward councillor Barbara Jefferson, to discuss the town’s sewage network and bathing-water quality.
Mr Cameron said: “It was a pleasure to meet with Mr Rhodes along with Cllr Jefferson to understand his concerns and explain how Yorkshire Water is funded, the work we do to maintain our assets and how they operate in Hornsea.
“We are determined to work with our stakeholders, businesses and customers in the area to make sure that Hornsea maintains both its Excellent bathing water and Blue Flag status.
“While there aren’t any capital investment projects currently outlined for this financial period, 2025-2030, we will be keeping a close eye on the region to ensure our assets remain fit for purpose.”
After the meeting, Mr Rhodes said he understood Yorkshire Water’s official position to mean that improvements aimed at reducing sewage releases in Hornsea might not be addressed until 2035.
He said he had asked the company to investigate whether a new storage tank could be brought forward into its 2027 or 2028 budget, referring to a possible cost of £5 million.
However, Cllr Jefferson’s account makes clear that no cost or project was agreed at the meeting.
She said the discussion had been “very constructive and convivial” and that future investment needed to maintain Hornsea’s Blue Flag status had been among the topics raised.
Cllr Jefferson said Mr Rhodes had asked about the possibility of additional storage at Grainger’s Field and what it might cost.
She said: “The manager explained he did not know, but that he would investigate and feed back to us in due course.
“He kindly illustrated a possible addition to the existing plant, which was very helpful.
“Of course, we understand these things take time to investigate and consult on and find the relevant funding, which at this moment is not currently available in their 2025-2030 business plan.”
Yorkshire Water has separately acknowledged that its wider environmental performance during 2025 was not good enough.
A spokesman said: “Our environmental performance last year was not good enough and we understand that customers will be disappointed by this result. In particular, we need to reduce pollution incidents and improve the reliability of our environmental performance.”
The company said it had changed its approach to preventing pollution, including greater focus on maintaining assets and identifying problems earlier.
It said infrastructure improvements had been completed at almost 300 locations in the past six months and plans included upgrades to more than 450 storm overflows by 2030.
The Environment Agency assessment also found some areas where Yorkshire Water met its targets. Its permitted sewage and water-treatment discharges achieved 99 per cent compliance during 2025 and its rate of self-reporting pollution incidents improved. However, five water-quality schemes covered by its environmental improvement programme did not meet their required deadlines.
Yorkshire Water added: “There is much more to do, and we will be open about where we are making progress and where we are not. The test for us isn’t simply how much we spend. It is whether customers and the environment see better results.”
