A MOTION of no confidence by Green Party councillors in Bath and North East Somerset in Wessex Water was deferred at the recent Bath and North East Somerset Council’s meeting on September 17.

Item 14 on the agenda, the motion was put back to a future meeting following advice from deputy monitoring officer Donna Marks who has stepped up to become interim monitoring officer at the council.

According to local Green councillor for Clutton & Farmborough, Cllr Sam Ross, the council’s deputy monitoring officer had written to them ahead of the meeting to explain the motion was being rejected.

Under the Constitution's six-month rule, it was deemed to be too similar to a Liberal Democrat motion from July.

Cllr Sam Ross said: “We’re disappointed this motion couldn't be debated. It went through the same process as any other motion and had already been approved by the Monitoring Officer before that decision was reversed on procedural grounds.

“Residents have real concerns about Wessex Water's performance, and we think the council should be able to take a public position on that.

“We'll be looking at how we can bring this back once the six-month period has passed.”

Wessex Water is responsible for treating sewage across Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, and the Bristol area, and spilled untreated sewage for thousands of hours last year.

Its CEO was given an £80k pay rise after it was banned from giving out bonuses, the Green Party motion noted.

A council declaration of no confidence would have led to Wessex Water bosses being brought before a council scrutiny panel to face questions and included asking the council leader to write to the government in support of nationalising water companies.

Cornwall Council passed a no confidence motion in South West Water in July over its “grave failure” to manage the county’s sewers.

About 60 of Cornwall’s town and parish councils supported the cross-party Dowr Glan campaign, Cornish for “clean water.” Sewage was discharged directly at some of the most popular Cornish beaches by South West Water.

In August, councillors in Wiltshire, where sewers are run by Wessex Water, warned that children had fallen ill after swimming in a river there and some had been hospitalised for two days.

Bath and North East Somerset Council voted unanimously in July to endorse a charter to respect the river’s “rights” to not be polluted.

Wessex Water’s storm overflows spilled for 190,666 hours in 2025, Rivers Trust figures show.

Storm overflows discharge rainwater and untreated sewage directly into rivers and seas, nominally to prevent pipes backing up during extreme demand.

A statement on Wessex Water’s website about storm overflows states: “Storm overflows have always been part of the sewerage network in the UK and while they have little impact on water quality, they are clearly not appropriate for the 21st century.”

They say eliminating all overflows would cause huge disruption to communities, cost hundreds of millions of pounds and increase water bills significantly.

The company adds it is spending £8.5 million every month over the next five years on overflow improvement schemes.