Falmouth Gyllyngvase Beach sewage spill protest call

Jo Curd, the owner of longecoteuk based on Gyllyngvase Beach, was again forced to move her classes after another sewage spillage alert on Tuesday evening.

Earlier this month she told the Packet how constant waste spills into the sea off Falmouth were destroying her business on the Blue flagged beach.

At one stage at the beginning of September there were 11 waste water spills in just eight days.

But following Tuesday's spills,where she again had to move her classes, she is calling for people to join her at Gylly Beach for a protest next Saturday, October 8.

Facebook (Image: Facebook)

She wants people to join her at 11am after, hopefully, a 10am class at Gylly Beach.

Posting on Facebook she said: "Class not essential, attending protest essential. Be there! Make placards! We will get the press involved and hope the coverage helps to enact change. Any and all help appreciated, I’ve not organised one before!"

Reacting to the post, Labour Cornwall and town councillor and parliamentary candidate for Falmouth and Truro, Jayne Kirkham said: "This seems to happen *daily* now."

Paul Armstrong (Image: Paul Armstrong)

She said this week at the Labour Party Conference, Labour promised a legally binding target that 90% of all sewage discharges will end by 2030,

"We will have mandatory monitoring of outlets & automatic fining if we get into government," she said.

"I met Feargal Sharkey there and saw him speak. He has been a fantastic, strong campaigner on this issue."

Earlier in the week Falmouth and Truro MP, Cherilyn Mackrory was in Portloe and said that water quality and sewage spill issues were very much in the limelight at the moment and rightly so.

She said: "The Government has introduced some of the strictest ever targets for water companies and I am robustly supporting communities and businesses to highlight their concerns."

She said standards that fall below that of which we should expect on beaches and in waterways are now able to be addressed with these targets in mind, "and it is on that basis that I have been representing the community of Portloe in tackling historical spillage issues."

Harbour Commissioners at Portloe have also been reporting failings in the pumping system located on the beach and are calling for an overhaul of the antiquated workings.

South West Water have acknowledged and agreed that there are problems that need resolving, and their contractors are carrying out vital checks.

She said she will also be visiting other areas with known overflow problems, and asked people to get in touch at cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk to let her know of any sites that she might not be aware of.