Southern Water fined £7m after illegally dumping sewage off Kent coast

Firm pleaded guilty to 13 offences over discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations

Southern Water has been fined more than £7m after dumping sewage illegally off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021.

The company, described by the judge as having a “record of criminality” which is “an exceptionally serious aggravating factor”, pleaded guilty to 13 offences at Medway magistrates court last April over sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations between 2019 and 2021.