United Utilities should be keeping Saddleworth’s streams and rivers clean. Instead they have discharged raw sewage into the River Tame around Delph and Greenfield,  and sampling has also found chemical cocktails at some sites.

Saddleworth Labour has launched a petition to put pressure on United Utilities to act and to pay for the work instead of rewarding shareholders with £300m in dividends and charging all of us more.

The petition calls for United Utilities to take urgent action to stop sewage discharges in Saddleworth and across Oldham. Data from the Rivers Trust shows that in 2022 raw sewage was discharged from 17 locations in 537 separate spills for a total of 4,703 hours across Oldham East and Saddleworth. In Saddleworth, discharges were reported along the River Tame at Clifton Holme, Delph New Road/Station Approach, Dobcross New Road, Greenfield and Woodbrook Road.

The petition further calls on:

United Utilities to clean up our streams using their money, instead of paying out to shareholders and charging customers more.

Oldham Council and Saddleworth Parish Council to demand that United Utilities take urgent action to stop sewage discharges in Saddleworth and across Oldham.

the government to hold those running water companies to account to ensure they work in the public interest, to ensure illegal activity is punished, to introduce mandatory monitoring of sewage outlets and to introduce automatic fines for sewage discharges.

Find out more and sign the petition online at: https://www.oldhamlabour.org.uk/save_our_streams/

Dominic Wall Saddleworth Parish Councillor and Labour campaigner in Greenfield and Uppermill said ‘Saddleworth is such a beautiful place to live and I was shocked to find out that United Utilities has such a poor record in keeping our waterways clean. I have signed the petition and I ask other Greenfield and Saddleworth residents to join me. Together with Labour’s other Parish Councillors, I support getting the Parish Council to take a stand and demand that United Utilities acts now.’