It's time to 'get tough' on water firms says Harrogate Lib Dem candidate after pollution probe by Environment Agency

Tom Gordon, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Harrogate & Knaresborough, said: "This is a pathetic pay-out for a firm which raked in over £500 million in profit last year.

"It is a scandal that Yorkshire Water's executive bonuses are more than double the amount offered for killing animals and destroying rivers in Harrogate.

"Conservative Ministers need to get tough on this polluting firm and fine them far more, as well as ban their insulting bonuses."

Mr Gordon made his comments following news that Yorkshire Water had paid £1million to two environmental and wildlife charities in the largest-ever Enforcement Undertaking accepted by the Environment Agency.

The donations were offered by the giant water company after a permit breach in 2016 at Hookstone Road combined sewer overflow in Harrogate.

The subsequent investigation found that almost 1,500 fish had been killed and water quality affected for 2.5km downstream.

A series of further blockages and discharges took place in the following months.

Having been found to have breached its environmental permit, Yorkshire Water Paid £500,000 to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and £500,000 to Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust as part of an Enforcement Undertaking, which is a voluntary offer made by companies or individuals to make amends for their offending, and usually includes a payment to an environmental charity to carry out environmental improvements in the local area.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said the incident was seven years ago and things had changed a lot since then.

“This incident was initially caused by a plank of wood that shouldn’t have been in the sewer network and took place seven years ago.

"We acted quickly to stop the pollution but understand incidents of this kind are distressing

"Unfortunately, it has taken seven years to reach an agreement with the Environment Agency to donate funds to local wildlife charities that will directly benefit Yorkshire.

“We’re committed to protecting the environment and our procedures and processes have evolved significantly since 2016.”