Surfing Legends celebrate Tintagel Sewage Victory

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaigners have today welcomed Hilary Benn, Secretary Of State for the Environment decision to refuse South West Water permission to carry on dumping raw sewage at Tintagel and Bossiney.

South West Water had plans to continue to discharge poorly treated sewage at Tintagel and Bossiney, a system unimproved since King Arthur's days!

SAS campaigners worked closely with local resident group TAIST (Tintagel Against Inferior Sewage Treatment) and helped them prepare evidence for the Public Inquiry. SAS campaigners were also called to give expert witness testimony during the Inquiry and went even further by inviting King Arthur, Merlin and Sir Campaignalot along to its opening day.

The Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn agreed with SAS and TAIST, that Tintagel and Bossiney should be considered a single community and therefore it required secondary level sewage treatment as a minimum level under the EU Urban Waste Water Directive. South West Water's proposal had attempted to split the communities in half, which would have reduced the population size of each below the 2000 population threshold and in doing so ruling them both out of having to apply secondary level treatment.

Richard Hardy, SAS Campaign Director says: "We are delighted that the Secretary of State and the Planning Inspector have come to this decision. It seemed a no-brainer really, but we needed the legendary campaigning skills of King Arthur and the magic of Merlin to see this proposal rejected. The biggest thumbs up though has to go to local campaign group TAIST, who have done a fantastic job in showing just what a local grassroots community group can do if there is an environmental challenge to be overcome."

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