Environment Agency Fines United Utilities £964K for Sewage Spill

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. United Utilities Limited fined £900,000 for five environmental permit offences following successful Environment Agency investigation into sewage spill. United Utilities Water Limited has been hit with £964,225 in fines and costs at Preston Magistrates’ Court today (8 September) after pleading guilty to five environmental permit offences following a major pollution incident in Lancashire. The offences followed a serious environmental incident between 11 and 22 June 2023, when raw sewage was discharged into the Irish Sea along the Fylde Coast from three coastal pumping stations for more than 35 hours in total over several days. Sewage was reported on beaches and in marine recreational facilities including Fleetwood baths, while United Utilities Water Limited’s own modelling showed a sewage plume had touched seven bathing waters and significantly impacted bathing water quality in the hours following the spills. As a result, the Environment Agency issued ‘no bathing’ advice across all eight designated bathing waters along the affected coastline, while sampling carried out during the incident by a trained citizen scientist was also indicative of the presence of E. coli. Three shellfish beds were also temporarily closed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) due to concerns for public health. Communities and businesses along the coast were impacted significantly by the contamination with popular tourist destinations including Blackpool and St Annes among those badly affected. In Blackpool alone, summer visitor numbers fell by hundreds of thousands compared with the previous year. An Environment Agency investigation found that the incident began following the partial collapse of a final effluent pipe at Fleetwood Wastewater Treatment Works, which reduced the amount of sewage the site could receive and caused sewage to back up through the wider system. Following periods of rainfall, sewage was subsequently discharged from three coastal pumping stations at Manchester Square, Anchorsholme and Chatsworth Avenue. United Utilities Water Limited’s environmental permits set strict conditions on when sewage could be discharged from the pumping stations. Further investigation into flow and spill data provided by the company found those conditions had not been met when the spills took place. The company admitted the breaches when interviewed under caution and pleaded guilty to five offences during a court hearing on 22 April 2026. This was an unacceptable pollution incident which had far-reaching consequences for residents and businesses along the Fylde Coast. Our investigation found that United Utilities Water Limited discharged sewage outside the conditions of its environmental permits. The company admitted those breaches, and today’s fine reflects the seriousness of the offences and the harm caused. Water companies have a fundamental responsibility to properly manage their assets and comply with the environmental permits designed to protect our rivers, seas and communities. When they fail to do so, we will hold them to account We will continue to rigorously regulate the water industry, investigate breaches and take action against companies that fail to meet their environmental obligations.” In the aftermath of the incident, United Utilities Water Limited constructed a two-kilometre temporary bypass around the damaged pipe, installed additional pumping equipment and used tankers to transport wastewater to other treatment works. The damaged pipe was subsequently repaired and the Fleetwood site returned to full s