PE1988, which was lodged by Sue Wallis, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review the process for allowing raw sewage discharge from homes into coastal waters, to provide additional funding to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for enforcement and to introduce legislation to ban households from discharging raw sewage. We last considered the petition at our meeting on 30 October 2024, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government. Its response states that water, waste water and drainage policy consultation is being used to inform its policy development process throughout 2025.
We asked the Scottish Government about SEPA’s purpose to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland, as set out in the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. The response states that the general purpose provides for a clear hierarchy that acknowledges the three elements of sustainable development, but that primacy is to be given to protecting and improving the environment. The Scottish Government states that it is content that SEPA has sufficient resources to apply its approach to regulation and principles across all its functions, as well as its enforcement policy.
The petitioner’s written submission shares her understanding that SEPA has the powers to prosecute for unrepaired pipes but has not done so because of concern that it will become too expensive to pursue. Under the current approach of contacting home owners about changing outfall pipe systems, she points out that there is no follow-up action to check that the required work has been done. The petitioner calls for a review of how SEPA staff monitor direct outfall pipes for homes in Scotland and believes that the Scottish Government should ask SEPA to explain why there have been no prosecutions arising from raw sewage discharges from broken outfall pipes.
Do any members wish to comment in the light of the Scottish Government’s response and/or the petitioner’s response?