High Peak Greens present bottles of ‘Chateau Sewage’ to MP Robert Largan

The bottles were given from the Green Party who say the privatised water companies are polluting our waterways and beaches on a massive scale and that High Peak is in the worst 10 per cent of affected constituencies.

Borough Councillor Joanna Collins said: “The profits of the privatised water companies rose to £1.4 billion last year.

“It’s outrageous that they’re continuing to make massive profits from our water bills while not cleaning up their disgusting and dangerous pollution of our waterways.

“The government needs to do much more to stop this.

“The Green Party wants these companies taken back into public ownership and run for the public good, not for private profit.”

She said in the High Peak during 2023 there were over 2,000 sewage discharges into local rivers by Severn Trent Water and United Utilities.

The water in the bottles of Chateau Sewage presented to Mr Largan was taken from the River Etherow in Glossop and the River Wye in Buxton.

However, Mr Largan was actually one of 22 rebel Conservative MPs who voted against the Government in 2021, forcing them to strengthen the Environment Act and place a public duty on water companies to stop sewage overflow discharges into rivers.

He rejects claims the water in the borough’s rivers are polluted and says in fact more has been done to improve water quality in recent years.

He said: “I am very proud of my record on environmental issues, including on protecting our rivers from pollution. I previously rebelled against my own party to vote in favour of introducing a public duty on water companies to stop untreated sewage being released into rivers. I helped secure a change in the law to significantly increase environmental protections.

“Locally, we’re seeing positive progress with United Utilites investing £12million into their sewage treatment works near Chapel-en-le-Frith to help stop sewage discharges into rivers.

"I’ve also spent time with River Rangers on the River Wye in Buxton, working to monitor water quality and clean up the river. I’ll keep working to protect our beautiful countryside and improve water quality.”