The water company pleaded guilty to five environmental offences after raw sewage was discharged into the Irish Sea for more than 35 hours, prompting “no bathing” advice across eight beaches.
United Utilities Water Limited has been fined £900,000 plus costs at Preston Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to five environmental permit offences following a major pollution incident along the Fylde Coast in Lancashire.
The offences stemmed from a serious environmental incident between June 11 and 22, 2023, when raw sewage was discharged into the Irish Sea from three coastal pumping stations at Manchester Square, Anchorsholme and Chatsworth Avenue. The discharges totalled more than 35 hours over several days.
The incident began following the partial collapse of a final effluent pipe at Fleetwood Wastewater Treatment Works, which reduced the site’s capacity and caused sewage to back up through the wider system. Following periods of rainfall, sewage was subsequently released from the pumping stations.
The company’s environmental permits set strict conditions on when sewage could be discharged — conditions that an Environment Agency investigation found had not been met.
The impact was widespread. Sewage was reported on beaches and in marine recreational facilities including Fleetwood baths. The company’s own modelling showed a sewage plume had touched seven bathing waters, significantly impacting water quality. The Environment Agency issued “no bathing” advice across all eight designated bathing waters along the affected coastline. Sampling carried out during the incident was indicative of the presence of E. coli.
Three shellfish beds were also temporarily closed by the Food Standards Agency due to public health concerns.
Communities and businesses were significantly affected, with popular tourist destinations including Blackpool and St Annes among those badly hit. In Blackpool alone, summer visitor numbers fell by hundreds of thousands compared with the previous year.
The company admitted the breaches when interviewed under caution and pleaded guilty during a court hearing on April 22, 2026.
Following the incident, United Utilities constructed a two-kilometre temporary bypass around the damaged pipe, installed additional pumping equipment, and used tankers to transport wastewater. The damaged pipe was subsequently repaired. The company has put the cost of responding to and repairing the incident at around £38 million.
Andy Brown, the Environment Agency’s Water Regulation Manager, said: ‘Water companies have a fundamental responsibility to properly manage their assets and comply with the environmental permits designed to protect our rivers, seas and communities. When they fail to do so, we will hold them to account.’
Photo: Dana Sarsenbekova
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