Residents appalled by the amount of sewage being pumped into Newquay’s coastline are being given an opportunity to voice their concerns to a South West Water boss.

Andy Pettifer, the company’s waste water operations manager for West Cornwall, will be attending a Pentire Residents’ Association meeting at the Pentire Hotel on Monday, April 15, at 7.15pm.

He is due to provide information about South West Water’s plans to reduce sewage discharges affecting beaches in Newquay, the Gannel Estuary and Crantock Beach.

Pentire Residents’ Association organised for Mr Pettifer to attend their open meeting following particular concerns about the amount of sewage being discharged into the Pentire area.

Denise Danks from the Pentire Residents’ Association said: “This is an excellent opportunity for members and non-members to raise questions and voice concerns to South West Water as well as hear about its plans for the area.

 “As we know, the volume and frequency of sewage discharges from our local beaches are a major concern to our members and Newquay residents generally and we have asked Andy to focus his presentation on this topic.  

“Members are very keen to understand why there have been so many discharges and why it would appear that the Pentire area has been disproportionately affected.  

“We have asked Andy to provide information on South West Water’s specific plans to substantially reduce discharges in the Crantock, Gannel and Newquay town beaches area.  

“This is a result of some long-term ongoing conversations by our committee members.”

Water company’s pump sewage into the sea and rivers when there is a risk of the sewage system, which is made up of pipes that carry rainwater and waste water from people's toilets, bathrooms and kitchens, becoming overwhelmed and sewage backing up into people's properties when there is a lot of rain.

To lower that risk, instead of all the raw sewage ending up at the water treatment plant, some of it is pumped through storm overflows and into the sea or rivers.

Using storm overflows is supposed to be an occasional measure but concerns about water companies regularly dumping sewage have been a concern for some time.