General election 2024: Maidenhead candidates outline environmental priorities

The Advertiser is running a series of features, asking the candidates for the 2024 General Election their opinion on what Maidenhead needs on a number of topics, from the environment to health and social care.

This week, reporters asked the hopefuls about environmental needs in the area including sewage dumping, greenbelt development, flooding, recycling and pollution.

Liberal Democrats - Joshua Reynolds

The sewage crisis is an environmental priority for Lib Dem candidate, Joshua Reynolds.

He decried the state of the rivers leading to the cancellation of the Boulter's to Bray Swim and people saddled with hefty vets bills from their dogs swimming in dirty water.

“It's really important that we tackle the sewage crisis that we’ve got. We've got such fantastic waterways in Maidenhead,” said Cllr Reynolds.

He said the Tories are letting water companies get away with dumping sewage and ‘they want taxpayers to fix the problem.’

The Lib Dems plan to ban bonuses for water company bosses ‘until they clean up their act’, he said – then ‘get rid of Ofwat’, replacing it with a regulatory body that ‘has teeth.’

If none of that works, water companies must become public interest companies, he said.

“We can’t just keep letting the water companies get away with it,” said Cllr Reynolds.

“We’re proposing a sewage tax on the £2.2billion of annual profits that water companies are making. We'll use that money to fix the mess.”

He added: “We need someone in Parliament that knows Maidenhead and can speak up for our community.”

Independent - Qazi Yasir Irshad 

Qazi Yasir Irshad said he has conducted surveys and one-to-one discussions with members of the Maidenhead public to gather their key concerns, and the issue of sewage and water pollution was one recurring theme that arose.

“The contamination of water over here is due to the chemicals, plastic and sewage that [causes] the destruction of the aquatic ecosystems and poses health risks to humans,” he said.

Residents informed Mr Irshad of the issues with Thames Water and he visited the site with them, to assess the extent of the waste being dumped first-hand.

Qazi said he collected photographic evidence and has been raising awareness on his own platforms.

He said such environmental issues can be raised in Parliament at any time and he plans to lobby in order to make changes.

“Environmental protection campaigners have already been in contact with me and are going to work with me in this campaign,” he said.

“I’m going to raise the issue and at the same time they’re going to execute the plan.”

Qazi also said he is already in support of various environmental pledges and has signed many including Rewilding Britain, World Animal Protection and People & Planet.

Labour - Jo Smith

Automatic fines and legislation to make unlawful dumping a criminal offence are among the measures Labour candidate Jo Smith is calling for to clean up the waterways.

As a paddleboarder and river swimmer, Ms Smith said she was angered by the state of water quality in Berkshire and beyond.

“It’s a metaphor for so much that is wrong with our country that we live in a society where it’s considered to be acceptable by our politicians for raw, untreated sewage to be pumped into our rivers,” she said.

“It’s this Conservative Government and water companies that have been allowed to do that.”

The Maidenhead candidate said the Labour Party will aim to stop water companies dishing out bonuses until targets for clearing up filthy discharges are met.

She added: “I’m absolutely clear that if people in Maidenhead want our rivers clean and usable, they need to be voting for the change that’s going to deliver that.”

The creation of a new publicly-owned company, Great British Energy, is one of Labour’s key ideas to make British energy independent and cut bills for families.

Ms Smith said the party is also aiming to deliver the largest investment in clean energy in the country’s history.

Independent - George Wright

George Wright said he understands the widespread concerns about water sewage and fully backs the preservation of green spaces in and around Maidenhead.

“Personally I support the Great Park idea [for Maidenhead Golf Course]. It comes from local concern,” he said.

Mr Wright said he wants to see ‘small developments in the various satellites of Maidenhead and Bracknell’ rather than big developments taking up green space in the town centre.

One of Mr Wright’s priorities is a full offer of recycling.

He would like people to easily recycle products marked ‘recyclable’ which he says is not currently the case and intends to lobby for a better system.

Mr Wright said issues with the waterways largely come down to privatisation.

He said: “Essentially the issue with the water companies is that we privatised them and they’re a natural monopoly. Those two things don’t go together.

“They should be the property of all of us.”

He raised concerns that the current system has ‘been reduced to a matter of profit and finance where it should be a matter of provision and improving that provision’.

He added: “We need to be looking not just at how we solve the problems now but how do we restructure our country to be able to best deal with any problem that may arise.”

Tim Burt - Social Democratic Party

Tim Burt said one of the biggest issues concerning everyone is ‘water pollution and water sewage’.

He added there is also ‘a lot of concern generally’ about maintaining greenspaces across the town.

“The problem is we do need to balance the need for new houses with protecting the green space,” he added.

Mr Burt said the SDP would not allow ‘any private sector housing development on greenbelt’.

Mr Burt said the party will ‘phase out all single-use plastic in food retail and catering within the next three years’.

The party will also look to make ‘returnable deposits mandatory’ for drinks containers and any other toxic waste products.

On flooding, Mr Burt said: “One of the things which we do need to ensure is [there is] sufficient work done to maintain all the waterways which can impact the flooding. I think we need to ensure we maintain the focus and the funding on to our waterways to ensure that we don't create flooding further back up the system.”

Mr Burt said it is a ‘disgrace’ that sewage is being discharged into rivers.

He said: “Fundamentally, my view is that unless we take the water companies back under national ownership, there's no way we're actually going to address, long term, the capital investment needed to actually fix the sewage discharges.”

Andrew Cooney - Green Party

Andrew Cooney said the environment ‘is gasping for breath and is being assaulted from all sides’.

He said the headlines are all about the ‘state of the rivers and the sewage pollution’, but said while this is ‘appalling’ there are also other ways the environment in the area is being ‘degraded’.

He raised concerns over air pollution and the loss of green space. Mr Cooney said finding ways to incorporate more greenery would improve air quality.

He added that the does not want to see the golf course built over.

On flooding, Mr Cooney added: “I really felt for the affected residents in Cookham. It's a horrendous situation to have to go through.

“Mitigation requires investment in flood defences and in infrastructure up to the job of handling waste water and sewage in response.

“In my view privatisation of water has been a disaster.

“The Green Party will renationalise the water sector so that income is spent on resilience, not dividends.”

He added: “The Environment Agency needs to be properly funded to address the crisis. I would ensure the local council works closely with the agency so that a robust, budgeted plan is put in place.”

He added the state of ‘our rivers and coastal waters is a national disgrace’.

Conservatives - Dr Tania Mathias

Dr Tania Mathias said residents could expect her to be a ‘strong’ voice for championing the environment.

Discussing sewage pollution, she said she was ‘100 per cent’ behind the Tory manifesto – calling for unlimited fines for water companies and an end to bosses’ bonuses.

In 2021, the Government voted down a Bill calling for water companies to have a legal duty to reduce river pollution.

Defending the Conservative voting record on the issue, Dr Mathias said it was important to consider ‘the detail of people’s arguments’.

Asked if she would support any Bill in parliament that proposed tougher laws on water pollution she replied, ‘most probably’.

But she added: “I’ve been there in Parliament when legislation has been badly drafted, so that’s my job as the MP to ensure that it is tight, and it will work.”

Regarding building on greenbelt land, Dr Mathias said there was cross-party support for protecting green spaces.

She said she was ‘on record’ as being against building on golf courses, such as the proposals at Maidenhead Golf Course.

She wanted the UK to take a leading role in promoting the role of science in environmental decision making, adding: “For young people as well, who care so much about the environment, that has to be a necessity.”