A very alert resident writes me an e-mail every time that sewage is being discharged into the sea at Sidmouth. I suspect that she is alerted every time that sewage is being discharged. She is right to be upset.

Back in May, I enjoyed attending Sea Fest on The Ham in Sidmouth. The event was sponsored by South West Water, and some residents who engaged with the water company’s staff on the sea front were reassured by what they heard. Yet what we have learned this week is enough to make anyone angry.

The Conservatives cut the Environment Agency’s “environmental protection grant” for 2024. This, in spite of the fact that the amount of raw sewage being pumped into England’s waterways doubled between 2022 and 2023.

I used to direct my anger at South West Water. I still do! But these days I have recognised that Government shares a big chunk of the responsibility for what has been happening. Water companies have been permitted to dump enormous volumes of sewage, because the Conservative Government did not fit out the regulators – the Environment Agency and Ofwat - to do their jobs properly.

On this subject, the new Government has been making the right noises in recent weeks. They have talked about “funds being pumped back into the regulator”.

The Liberal Democrats will be pressing the Government to go further. At the Liberal Democrats’ conference last week (held at a seaside resort), we called for Ofwat to be replaced by a regulator “with teeth”. We called for the establishment of a Clean Water Authority, which would have the power to transform water companies into public benefit companies.

We called for the Government to set legally binding targets to prevent sewage discharges into bathing waters and highly sensitive nature sites by 2030. We demanded that they revoke the licence of poorly performing water companies, and fine top executives.

We demanded that the Government increase water monitoring with new Sewage Inspectors, including unannounced inspections, ending water companies' self-monitoring. Finally, we called on the Government to regulate the ownership of water companies, and put local environmental experts on water company boards.

Thanks to the vigilance and persistence of Sidmouth Town Council, Sidmouth is already ahead of many coastal towns, in terms of the sewage infrastructure that it has been pledged by South West Water. While I am going to continue to keep water companies in my sights, I am going to raise my sights during this Parliament - and take aim at the regulators.