Image description: A red and white sign nailed to a wooden fence is in the foreground, with a sandy beach and sea in the background. The sign reads “beach closed, no swimming”. Image by YM, Unsplash.

A group legal claim against South West Water (SSW) alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been extended across Devon and Cornwall. 

Previously limited to people living in Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton and Lympstone, Law firm Leigh Day said it was opening the claim to include people from the Devon towns of Dawlish, Sidmouth and Teignmouth, as well as Newquay and Penzance in Cornwall. 

The nature of the claim 

This is the first environmental group claim brought by a coastal community against a water company in the UK.

The claim was launched in 2024 after separate legal action was taken by wild water swimmer Jo Bateman from Exmouth, whose claim is ongoing. Jo, a retired physiotherapist, said swimming benefitted her physical and mental health, but she was prevented from entering the water due to frequent sewage spills on her local beach. 

The claim highlighted a 2025 investigation by water regulator Ofwat into SWW’s mismanagement of wastewater treatment works and sewer networks, following which Ofwat issued a £24m enforcement penalty. 

Spills of raw sewage via combined storm overflows are only considered legal if they take place after exceptional circumstances, such as extreme rainfall, when the system is at risk of being overwhelmed. But more than half of SWW’s treatment plants were spilling regularly into the environment, Ofwat said. 

The claim argues failings by SWW are wide and entrenched in many coastal towns across the Devon and Cornwall region, rather than just the Exmouth area. The firm said so far more than 1,400 people who argued pollution had negatively impacted businesses, many of which rely on tourism, had joined the claim. 

The claim is ongoing 

The utility company has said it was aware of the claim but it was unable to provide further comment. 

A SWW spokesperson said: “Like all our customers, we care deeply about the quality of our region’s bathing waters.” 

They added the firm fully understood “how important this is to residents, businesses and visitors”. 

Leigh Day said anyone who had been affected by sewage spills was eligible to join the legal action.