Surfers celebrate Portobello decision.

Surfers Against Sewage are delighted by today's news that the sewage treatment works at Portobello will not be going ahead.

An appeal by Southern Water against the refusal of planning permission for the construction of a waste-water treatment works at Portobello has been dismissed by the Secretary of State.

Richard Gregory of SAS Brighton said today;

" It may seem odd that we are welcoming a further delay in improved sewage treatment, but SAS have always argued that Southern Water should be implementing the best sewage treatment for the area. Unfortunately their dogged reliance on outdated 'pump and dump' technology meant that they never seriously considered alternatives to the Portobello site. We call on Southern Water to immediately start planning a state-of-the-art sewage plant elsewhere. And they should ensure that local chargepayers are compensated for the money they have been paying for improvements to Portobello for the last few years".

A state-of-the-art works would incorporate either UV disinfection or membrane filtration, both of which significantly reduce levels of harmful viruses and bacteria found in sewage effluents, minimising health risks to water users.

By adopting one of these treatment technologies, the need to discharge through a long sea outfall is removed. There can therefore be much more flexibility when considering the location of the new works.