United Utilities Water Limited hit with record fine of £900,000 after sewage discharged into holiday hotspots for 35 hours.  

• Environment Agency investigation sees water company landed with over £900,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to five environmental permit offences and accepting the Environment Agency's Category 1 incident classification.
• Raw sewage was discharged into the Fylde coastline for over a total of 35 hours affecting popular tourist locations across Blackpool, Lytham and Fleetwood.
• 'No bathing' advice issued across all eight designated bathing waters, with testing during the incident indicative of E. coli.

The offences followed a serious environmental incident between 11 and 22 June 2023, when raw sewage was discharged into the Irish Sea along the Fylde Coast from three coastal pumping stations for more than 35 hours in total over several days. 

Sewage was reported on beaches and in marine recreational facilities including Fleetwood baths, while United Utilities Water Limited's own modelling showed a sewage plume had touched seven bathing waters and significantly impacted bathing water quality in the hours following the spills. 

As a result, the Environment Agency issued 'no bathing' advice across all eight designated bathing waters along the affected coastline, while sampling carried out during the incident by a trained citizen scientist was also indicative of the presence of E. coli. Three shellfish beds were also temporarily closed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) due to concerns for public health. 

Communities and businesses along the coast were impacted significantly by the contamination with popular tourist destinations including Blackpool and St Annes among those badly affected. In Blackpool alone, summer visitor numbers fell by hundreds of thousands compared with the previous year.  

An Environment Agency investigation found that the incident began following the partial collapse of a final effluent pipe at Fleetwood Wastewater Treatment Works, which reduced the amount of sewage the site could receive and caused sewage to back up through the wider system. 

Following periods of rainfall, sewage was subsequently discharged from three coastal pumping stations at Manchester Square, Anchorsholme and Chatsworth Avenue. United Utilities Water Limited's environmental permits set strict conditions on when sewage could be discharged from the pumping stations. Further investigation into flow and spill data provided by the company found those conditions had not been met when the spills took place. 

 The company admitted the breaches when interviewed under caution and pleaded guilty to five offences during a court hearing on 22 April 2026. 

Andy Brown, Environment Agency's Water Regulation Manager said:  

"This was an unacceptable pollution incident which had far-reaching consequences for residents and businesses along the Fylde Coast.  

Our investigation found that United Utilities Water Limited discharged sewage outside the conditions of its environmental permits. The company admitted those breaches, and today's record fine reflects the seriousness of the offences and the harm caused.  

"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 

"We will continue to rigorously regulate the water industry, investigate breaches and take action against companies that fail to meet their environmental obligations." 

In the aftermath of the incident, United Utilities Water Limited constructed a two-kilometre temporary bypass around the damaged pipe, installed additional pumping equipment and used tankers to transport wastewater to other treatment works. The damaged pipe was subsequently repaired and the Fleetwood site returned to full service. 

The company also made a voluntary payment of £250,000 to Blackpool Council after images of the iconic tower were used alongside media reports of the incident. The council were in the middle of a high-paid advertising push for tourism, and this significantly harmed the image of the area.

United Utilities Water Limited has put the cost of responding to and repairing the original incident at around £38 million and has since undertaken further work to improve the resilience of the wastewater network along the Fylde Coast.