Exmouth sewage pollution claim

Many people who live in the area or regularly visit the area will be able to join the claim, including if you: 

• Rely on the sea at Exmouth Beach or the River Exe for hobbies and leisure, such as kitesurfing, paddling boarding, swimming, walking and windsurfing.
• Have a business, charity or club which has been impacted by sewage pollution.  
• Own or rent a property that has been impacted by sewage pollution, for example, by leaks of sewage onto your land or into a waterway adjoining your land or by disruption from South West Water tankers. 

You can join potentially thousands of people who are holding South West Water to account through this legal claim for their alleged pollution of the sea, Exmouth Beach and the River Exe. By joining, you become part of the legal action to insist that South West Water: 

• Stops the Sewage: Push South West Water to stop allegedly unlawful sewage discharges by, among other things, investing in infrastructure.
• Cleans up the beaches: Hold South West Water to account for its alleged role in the state of Exmouth Beach.
• Pays up: You could receive compensation for the impact on your life or your business allegedly caused by South West Water’s sewage discharges.

The impact of allegedly unlawful sewage discharges on the local community is significant: 

• It makes Exmouth Beach, the River Exe and the sea ‘no-go’ areas for the public. 
• It disrupts hobbies and clubs (swimmers, rowers and surfers, to name a few) by blocking their access to the sea and the Exe Estuary. 
• It harms the area's businesses, which rely on the sea, and the visitors who flock to the area for the beach.
• The sewage and sewage tankers interfere with people’s enjoyment of their property by causing noise and pollution.  

By joining the legal action, you will be part of potentially thousands of individuals and businesses holding South West Water accountable for its alleged role in polluting Exmouth Beach and the surrounding villages. 

According to both South West Water’s WaterFit website and the Environment Agency’s SwimFo website, South West Water repeatedly discharges large amounts of untreated sewage into the River Exe and Exmouth’s bathing waters, which is having a detrimental impact on Exmouth Beach and the surrounding area.

The impact of these discharges is acknowledged by both the Environment Agency and South West Water. The Environment Agency has issued numerous ‘Advise Against Bathing’ notices and even closed the beach altogether in recent years. South West Water’s tankers allegedly cause widespread disruption as a result of these discharges. Residents of Exmouth and the surrounding villages are taking action against these alleged interferences with their rights to enjoy the prized location by the sea and the unique beauty of Exmouth Beach. 

Exmouth Beach is often called the “gateway to UNESCO’s World Heritage Jurassic Coast.” It is the prized asset of Exmouth and is vitally important—much of the town’s economy revolves around the tourism the beach attracts.

According to both South West Water’s WaterFit website and the Environment Agency’s SwimFo website, South West Water repeatedly discharges large amounts of untreated sewage into the River Exe and Exmouth’s bathing waters, which is having a detrimental impact on Exmouth Beach and the surrounding area.

The impact of these discharges is acknowledged by both the Environment Agency and South West Water, with the Environment Agency having issued numerous “Advise Against Bathing” warnings in recent years and South West Water regularly stating on its website that discharges may affect the condition of the bathing water.

Paul Arnott, the East Devon District Council leader, declared a state of “ongoing civil emergency” due to beaches having to be closed repeatedly, from Seaton to Sidmouth because of sewage discharges. 

South West Water’s discharges of sewage have, among other things, meant the community has, at times, been advised against using the beach waters, where sewage creates a health hazard. For example, during the August 2024 Bank Holiday weekend, and the following week, the local council put up Red Flag warnings on Exmouth Beach to prevent people from entering the water after a sewage discharge at Maer Road sewage pumping station rising main to Maer Road Sewage Treatment Works burst flooding into Littleham stream. 

South West Water’s sewage discharges do not just impact those wishing to swim, but also those who rely on the water and beaches either for recreational use or to attract customers to their businesses. Anyone who has been impacted by the sewage discharge in the Exmouth area can join the claim at this stage. 

Leigh Day is aware that South West Water has continued to pollute in spite of an Environment Agency investigation, customer complaints, and many other efforts to curb the harm the company allegedly causes. The group legal claim is being brought as a last resort to hold South West Water accountable, seek compensation for the harm the community has allegedly suffered, and try to achieve a real, long-term solution to the issue. 

The community-led group claim is being brought against South West Water. South West Water provides regulated water and wastewater services to a population of around 1.8 million across the South West of England, in addition to over 10 million visitors a year. Services are provided to over 800,000 homes and 70,000 businesses. Its statutory revenue for 2022/23 was £566.4 million. 

Last year, South West Water was identified as the worst-performing company in the sector across the country, with a total of 194 actual pollution incidents. That is equivalent to 111 sewage pollution incidents per 10,000 km of sewer. The average across the country is just 36 incidents per 10,000 km.   

As numerous members of the community allege in this claim, South West Water’s poor performance and its discharges of sewage in the Exmouth area have caused considerable harm to the community. For example:

• water sports enthusiasts and dedicated sea swimmers have had hobbies they rely upon for their well-being interrupted; 
• businesses allege they have lost revenue; and 
• residents report serious disruption from 24-hour convoys of waste service tankers brought in to remove raw sewage.

This community-led claim against South West Water seeks to hold South West Water accountable for the harm it has caused. 

It is possible that other relevant defendants will be identified as we continue investigating the claims.

Generally, only the polluters themselves can be liable in a civil nuisance case such as this one. 

Regulators such as Ofwat are not normally liable in private or civil law for failing to prevent private companies from causing damage. This private law action will seek to hold South West Water directly accountable for the harm it has allegedly caused to the environment and the surrounding community. 

This community-led group claim against South West Water is being brought following a development in the law. 

In July 2024, the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the case of the Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd (Appellant) v United Utilities Water Ltd. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in that case, it was generally considered that, without evidence of negligence or deliberate wrongdoing, water companies (such as South West Water) enjoyed “statutory immunity” from civil nuisance claims because of the Water Industry Act 1991. 

The Supreme Court’s Manchester Ship Canal ruling saw a change in the law, with the Supreme Court deciding that nuisance claims can be brought against water companies in a wide range of circumstances. 

This community-led group claim against South West Water will rely on the Manchester Ship Canal ruling to assert Exmouth residents’ right to a legal remedy for the harm they have suffered. It is, therefore, a novel claim. Like all legal claims, particularly claims using new law, success is not guaranteed. However, our view is that the implications of the judgment are clear and that the claim has good prospects of success. 

The community-led group will argue that it is unlawful for South West Water to continue harming the region because sewage discharges cause a nuisance and interfere with the public rights of members of the local community to use beaches, the sea, and rivers.  

Anyone who has been particularly impacted by the public nuisance has a potential claim. That might include people who regularly swim in the sea or who rely on the beach for walks and for walking their dogs. 

Property owners and renters also have a legal right to enjoy their property without substantial interference from another party. For example, members of the community who have had sewage washed up on their land or whose fish farm has been harmed by sewage might be able to claim for private nuisance.

Leigh Day will keep these claims under review as it gathers evidence. There might be additional claims against South West Water, or other defendants, which may be added in due course. 

There are various options open to people who have had issues with sewage pollution. 

If you wish, you may submit a complaint to the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency may conduct an investigation and they could take enforcement action. which could include: issuing fines or penalties, requiring the company to improve operations and/or taking legal action if they deem it necessary. However, the legal action would not be on behalf of a group of individuals.

You may, of course, seek advice on your legal rights from a free legal advice service. It may also be worth checking whether you have legal cover included with any home insurance policy in your name. Such policies may sometimes provide funding for legal advice. 

Please note that Leigh Day is not able to provide individuals from Exmouth with advice outside the group claim at this stage.

We will be bringing these claims on a 'No Win, No Fee' basis under a Damages-Based Agreement (DBA). This means that we will deduct up to 30% (exclusive of VAT) of the damages / compensation you receive (the “DBA payment”) if the claim is successful. The DBA payment represents our fee for the work we undertake/incur in acting for you and sharing the financial risk in pursuing your claim on your behalf. At the current rate of VAT of 20%, the total amount we will deduct from your damages is no more than 36%.

If you are successful in your claim, we will also deduct from your damages any expenses that we incur during the case, such as court fees, travel costs and expert fees, which will be in addition to the 30% (exclusive of VAT). However, we will also seek to recover our time costs and expenses from the Defendant(s) so that it is highly likely that you will end up paying less than 30% (exclusive of VAT and expenses) overall.

We would always ensure that any expenses that are incurred in the case are kept well below any damages amount that may be awarded not least because we are required by our general rules to keep costs proportionate so you will not have to pay anything beyond any compensation you may be awarded.

If there were any shortfall in the expenses recovered from the Defendant(s), that shortfall would need to be shared amongst all of the successful Claimants. This means that you would only be liable to pay your individual share of the shortfall, which would be a small percentage of the total because you are bringing your claim with many thousands of others in a group and you benefit from being able to share the shortfall with the group.

We would first seek to recover all of these costs from the Defendant(s) under the general rule that the loser pays the winner’s costs. Under this principle, generally speaking, the Defendant(s) will be liable for most of the expenses, as long as they were reasonably incurred.

If, after they are divided between all claimants, these expenses are still greater than your remaining compensation, we would not charge you any more than the compensation that you are awarded.

Please see the example below to better understand how costs would work:

If the expenses shortfall were £100,000 in total and there were 10,000 Claimants in the group, each would be responsible for paying £10. If you do not win your case, you do not have to pay us anything, as long as you abide by our funding agreement.

We have provided a worked example below to illustrate how instructing us under a DBA works where we are acting under a DBA on the same terms we are offering you in this case.

Client enters into DBA for 30% of damages + VAT + expenses. Client wins their case and receives £10,000 in compensation. We also recover from the Defendant £2,000 towards our time costs and expenses.

In the above example, the client will only pay £2,600 from the £10,000 damages / compensation received i.e., only 26%, which includes all monies due to Leigh Day (the DBA payment, VAT and expenses).

The DBA payment will never be more than 30% of your damages (excluding VAT), irrespective of the number of claimants within the group. There will also be an insurance premium payable if your claim is successful, but payment of this will be included in the DBA payment of 30% of your damages (excluding VAT and expenses).

Once you have checked that you are eligible to bring a claim, we will ask you to read through our funding agreement and sign the same. You will then be a client of the firm.

Please note £10,000 is a hypothetical compensation figure purely for the purpose of illustrating how a DBA payment works in principle.

As explained above, this community-led group claim is being brought to reduce serious pollution incidents in Exmouth and compensate the local community for losses allegedly caused by the pollution. 

As part of the claim, the claimants may seek an injunction from the courts to make a legally enforceable order for South West Water to act to stop the alleged pollution. Injunctions can also be used to oblige companies to clean up their pollution, in this case, compelling South West Water to help restore Exmouth Beach to what it used to be. 

If a court decides that an injunction is not an appropriate remedy, it may grant damages for future loss in place of an injunction, which would further deter South West Water. 

A spokesperson for South West Water has publicly stated that they are investing up to £38 million in the Exmouth area by 2030, including in upgrading pumping stations and treatment works. 

Unfortunately, South West Water has made several statements regarding investments in the sewerage systems in Exmouth and the East Devon area; local reports suggest that many of these promises to invest in their infrastructure have been subsequently reduced or have not materialised. 

A community-led legal action such as the one you might pursue with Leigh Day helps hold companies such as South West Water to account. Any amount a court awarded, including any sums awarded for cleaning up the area, would be legally enforceable -South West Water would have to act.

If you have been impacted by the waste service tankers you may be eligible to claim in private and/or public nuisance. Waste service tankers are large trucks used by a water company to carry sewage wastewater, sludge and effluent in the management and removal of waste from various sources - including combine sewage overflow pumping stations, such as Maer Lane sewage pumping station in Exmouth. 

At the start of 2024, 240 truckloads of sewage per day were sent to the overflowing pumping station in Maer Road due to a burst pipe and subsequent sewage overflow.  The tankers, as reported by the community, have continued to “plough through Exmouth” following another burst sewage pipe.  

The waste service tankers have been described by the community as a continuous disruption because they allegedly block traffic, cause damage to roads and garden verges, increase pollution, create smells, generate brake dust and generate significant noise.  

Homeowners and renters have a legal right to enjoy their property rights without major interference from another party. For example, if you own or rent property on the tankers’ route to and from the pumping station, you may have a claim in private nuisance. 

Additionally, if you own a business and you can prove that your business has suffered a loss of income due to the disruption from the tankers, you may also be able to claim in nuisance.

We understand that people may have suffered health effects because of contact with sewage in the sea off Exmouth Beach. Although the health hazard allegedly created by South West Water may well be highlighted as part of the claim, personal injury is not currently being considered as part of the community-led group claim. 

That said, if you have suffered a very serious personal injury as a result of sewage pollution, and you would like to speak to a member of the team, please feel free to get in touch with us by email at  exmouthsewage@leighday.co.uk to arrange a call. 

Where you have been impacted by sewage pollution over and above the way an ordinary member of the public has been impacted or your property has been impacted, you may have a basis for bringing a claim. Relevant impacts include: 

• You can no longer practice your hobby, club sport or recreational activity that depends on the sea and the beach; for example, you can no longer swim, kitesurf, windsurf or walk along the beach due to sewage pollution. 
• You can no longer visit the area as you habitually do, owing (for example) to smells coming from sewage pollution or because of disruption caused by South West Water’s waste service tankers.
• Your local business has been impacted by sewage pollution, for example, because you are no longer able to run courses or rent water sports equipment for use in the sea or because of a decline in tourist revenue. 
• You can no longer use your mooring spot or angling rights because of sewage pollution.
• The home or business that you own or rent has been impacted by sewage pollution, such as by leaks of sewage onto your land or into a waterway adjoining your land or by noise from South West Water’s waste service tankers.

By joining the claim, you may be able to seek remedial action. This means that South West Water could be ordered by a court to clean up the affected area and reduce its polluting activities going forward.  

In addition, the compensation that South West Water may be required to pay should act as a strong deterrent against companies polluting water in the future. In particular, it could send a powerful message to the shareholders of these companies that the cost of polluting is more expensive than the cost of doing the right thing.

Generally, claims brought based on nuisance must be commenced within six years of the date on which the claimant suffered the loss, or if they only found out about the loss more than six years after the start of the nuisance, the date on which they became aware of the loss and its cause. This is known as a limitation, and if a legal claim is not commenced before the limitation expires, it generally may not proceed. 

Please note that this summary of the limitation rules is very general; an assessment of your individual position depends on the facts of your case. Please use the online “join the claim” form to sign up. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual advice during the sign-up process. 

We will bring these claims on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ basis under a Damages Based Agreement (‘DBA’). You will pay no upfront money for Leigh Day to represent you in your claim. If you lose, you will not pay for Leigh Day’s services provided you have complied with the terms of the agreement you signed with us. 

If you win, you will pay us 30% of your compensation (excluding VAT). 

For example, if you receive £10,000 in compensation, we will take 30% (£3,000) plus VAT (£600), for a total of £ 3,600.  

We are required by law to charge expenses separately, though the sum you would pay is likely to be small. Expenses include things like court fees and experts’ fees. 

For example, if expenses were £100,000 (and we could not recover them from the defendant) and there were 10,000 Claimants in the group, each would be responsible for paying £10 plus VAT (£2), so £12 in total.

The DBA fee plus expenses outlined above is the maximum you would have to pay us – it could be less because we can offset some of what we are able to recover from the defendant against the sum you have to pay us.  

You should always read the full terms of our DBA and the Client Care Letter to make sure you are happy with your agreement with us.

Please carefully review the retainer agreement documents downloadable during the sign-up process and circulate them to all clients by email, in particular your client care letter, for details of the terms on which we will represent you.  

In litigation, the losing party is typically required to pay the opponent’s costs. It is for this reason, we will arrange insurance to protect you against the risk of losing and having to pay the defendant’s (or defendants’) legal costs.  The insurance is called After the Event insurance (‘ATE insurance’) and we would not start court proceedings without it. 

So long as you comply with the terms of your agreement with us and any ATE agreement, it is improbable you would ever be liable to pay any costs. There does remain a small risk that you would still be personally liable if, for example, you breach the terms of the insurance by acting dishonestly.

We will meet the cost of insurance out of the Damages Based Agreement percentage you pay if you win, so the cost of insurance is included in the 30% success fee mentioned above. 

We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure you have good ATE insurance. However, if you have any questions about the small risk to you, please email exmouthsewage@leighday.co.uk, and one of our team members will respond. Alternatively, you can call us at 0207 650 1111. 

So long as you act honestly and comply with your responsibilities related to the claim, South West Water would be unlikely to have any claim against you personally. 

For example, if you are required to disclose documents about the claim, you must do so. We will keep our clients updated on all their obligations during the claim, and you can, of course, contact us with any concerns you have. 

It is difficult to say at the early stages of English litigation how long the claims might take. The length of claims depends on several factors that are often outside our control, including the approach that South West Water (and any other defendant that may potentially be added to this claim in the future) will take in the litigation. 

In our experience, group claims of this type may take three to five years to reach trial. The length of time the claim takes will depend on any complexities arising within the litigation and whether settlement can be achieved at an earlier stage.  

If South West Water defend the claims and we need to commence court proceedings, there are mechanisms available to help efficiently progress large group actions involving a large number of related claims. 

In particular, it is possible to ask the Court to grant a Group Litigation Order, which allows claims with common/related issues to be heard and managed together rather than individually. 

While we will not hesitate to initiate court proceedings when appropriate to achieve our client’s aims, we will also explore all possible ways of achieving your objectives, including mediation or some other alternative dispute resolution procedure, if appropriate and where your opponents agree to engage.  

We will update you regularly with more information on the timescale of your case, particularly in relation to the timescale for the next steps, which can usually be predicted more accurately. For example, at the point where a Letter Before Action is sent to a defendant, we would be in a better position to tell you when we would be likely to issue your claim with the court.  

We are at a very early stage of the claim, where we are still gathering information and evidence.  

At this stage, it is too early to say definitively what documents you may need to provide in support of your claim. However, some key issues can likely be dealt with on a group basis with the assistance of appropriate expert evidence.  

• However, among others, we may request your documents that evidence any losses you claim to have suffered. This may include, for example:  
• Evidence of loss of earnings of your business, such as your accounts and client invoices.
• Evidence of where your use/enjoyment of property or Exmouth Beach and the sea have been affected.
• Correspondence you have had from South West Water.
• Proof of ownership (or lease) of any residential property affected by sewage pollution.

We will provide all our clients with regular updates, particularly around significant milestones in your claim.  

If you have any questions regarding the agreement you would make with Leigh Day, please email exmouthsewage@leighday.co.uk and one of our team members will respond. Alternatively, you can call us at 0207 650 1111. 

Oliver Holland is the partner on this claim. Liberty Bridge, Rosio Caffarelli, Benji Gourgey, Nicholas Smith, and a team of dedicated paralegals will assist Oliver in the day-to-day running of the case. 

There are two types of claimants who can join: 

1. Those whose public rights are being affected. 
2. Those whose private property rights are being affected. 

To be eligible to bring a claim, you will need to demonstrate that you have been particularly affected by sewage pollution in the Exmouth region at some point since 2019. 

You may still be eligible to join if you were impacted before 2019 and the impacts continued after 2019. However, if you stopped being impacted entirely before 2019, you are not eligible to join the claim at this stage.  

Public nuisance

Examples of potential claimants whose public rights have been affected include the following: 

• You are restricted from practising your hobby, club sport, or recreational activity that depends on the sea and the beach. For example, you cannot always swim, windsurf, or walk along the beach due to sewage pollution. 
• You are restricted from visiting the area as you habitually do, owing (for example) to smells coming from sewage pollution or because of disruption caused by South West Water’s waste service tankers.
• Your local business has been impacted by sewage pollution, for example because you are no longer always able to rent water sports equipment for use in the sea, or because of a decline in tourist revenue. 
• You own a hotel, bed and breakfast or campsite, which has suffered a drop in bookings because of the widely publicised sewage pollution issues in Exmouth and the surrounding area.
    
  You are an individual who used to regularly take your dog for a walk along the beach but is no longer freely able to because you fear your dog will fall sick if it is exposed to raw sewage or polluted water. 

Please note that the above is the eligibility criteria under which Leigh Day can currently enter into retainers with clients and is not legal advice. It does not necessarily mean that you do not have a valid legal claim, and other law firms may be able to assist you depending on your individual circumstances.

Private nuisance

To join the claim for a breach of your private property rights, you must have permanently owned/leased a residential or business property or fishing/angling rights at some point in 2019.  You may still be eligible to join if you were impacted before 2019 and the impacts continued after 2019. 

Examples of potential claimants whose private rights have been affected include the following:

The home that you own or rent backs onto a river which has been impacted by pollution.

• The home or business you own or rent has been directly impacted by sewage pollution on your land, such as by sewage leaks onto your land or into a waterway adjoining your land. 
• The home or business that you own or rent has been directly impacted by noise or other disruption from South West Water’s waste service tankers.
• You have a shellfish or fish farm along the estuary that has been impacted by sewage pollution, which has harmed your fish. 
• You are restricted in the use of a mooring spot that you own or lease because of sewage pollution.
• You own or lease angling rights which are impacted by sewage pollution.  
• You are restricted in the use of a beach hut that you own or lease because of sewage pollution.

To join the legal action, an individual must have been particularly impacted by sewage pollution in Exmouth; you don’t need to live in Exmouth. 

For example, someone who lives a couple of hours away but can prove that they visit the area to partake in water sports might have been particularly impacted by pollution. 

Anyone who believes they have been impacted may complete the ‘Join the claim’ form today to check their eligibility, even if they do not live in the immediate vicinity of Exmouth Beach. 

Age is not generally a barrier to bringing a claim. 

However, in order to join the claim yourself you must be 18 or over. If you are below 18, you would need adult supervision to join the claim. An adult supervising a child’s claim is called a “litigation friend”. Currently we are not taking on minors as part of the claim group, but we will advise if this is a possibility in due course.

To join the claim for a breach of your private property rights, you must have permanently owned/leased a residential or business property or fishing/angling rights at some point from 2019. You may still be eligible to join if you were impacted before 2019 and the impacts continued after 2019. 

Examples of potential claimants whose private rights have been affected include the following:

• The home or business that you own or rent has been directly impacted by sewage pollution on your land, such as by leaks of sewage onto your land or into a waterway adjoining your land. 
• The home that you own or rent backs onto a river which has been impacted by pollution.
• The home or business that you own or rent has been directly impacted by noise or other disruption from South West Water’s waste service tankers.
• You have a shellfish or fish farm along the estuary that has been impacted by sewage pollution that has harmed your fish. 
• You are restricted in the use of a mooring spot that you own or lease because of sewage pollution.
• You are restricted in the use of the angling rights that you own or lease along the estuary because of sewage pollution.
• You are restricted in the use of a beach hut that you own or lease because of sewage pollution.

Yes, you may still be able to claim even if you have sold your property either for harm suffered while you were the owner or if it can be shown that the pollution affected the value of your property when it was sold.  However, you are not eligible to join the claim if you sold your property more than six years ago.  

You may still be eligible to claim for non-property-related impacts in other sections of the claim, depending on your circumstances.  

You may still be eligible to bring a property claim if you rent your property on a long-term basis.

If you only rented the property on holiday rentals, short lets, etc., you are not eligible to join the property loss claim.

However, if you own the holiday rental and your property has been impacted, you can join the claim. 

We understand that a number of businesses in the region are being affected by sewage pollution.  Examples include: 

• Water sports companies, such as teaching schools or equipment rental businesses, may have had to cancel lessons, trips, rental services and experienced a decline in the number of customers because of concerns over sewage pollution.
• Hotels, bed and breakfasts and camping sites who are experiencing a drop in bookings because of the widely publicised fact that Exmouth has been badly affected by sewage pollution. 
• Fish and shellfish farms may have suffered lost income.
• Angling businesses may have experienced a decline in users owing to sewage pollution affecting fish in the river.

Businesses can potentially claim for any loss of profit they have suffered because of sewage pollution or any costs spent repairing the harm caused by sewage pollution. 

Seafront or riverfront businesses may also be able to claim for the devaluation of their property rights caused by sewage pollution.

If you have been impacted as an individual, for example, because sewage pollution has impacted your hobby, and you also own a business on the beach or along the estuary that is directly affected by sewage pollution, you may be able to bring both claims. 

Please use the “join the claim” form to let us know about the harm you have suffered. You can use the “join the claim” form on the website to sign up on behalf of yourself and on behalf of all the businesses you are authorised to claim for which have suffered harm because of the nuisance.