Over the Easter weekend, storm overflows once again, unacceptably discharged into the waters along our coast — locals and visitors alike should be able to enjoy our beaches without having to second guess or check the popular Surfers Against Sewage app. I want to make clear to constituents that, with the Government’s tougher new framework now in place, I am already working to use these powers to demand real action — not just words — from water companies, and measurable change and accountability where it has long been lacking.

I joked recently to my Liberal Democrat neighbour MP Ben Maguire MP that he’s been calling for Susan Davy — or the latest senior figure falling short of their responsibilities — to resign on a near-weekly basis. But he's absolutely right. This is serious. I’ve valued working cross-party to expose both incompetence and dishonesty — rooting out the snake oil salesmen from our privatised public services and from our politics. It’s a sign of the healthy, non-tribal political culture we have here in Cornwall and a promising glimpse of the more accountable leadership we can expect from a refreshed council administration.

But, whilst we should celebrate the prospect of change, we also need to ensure our water reforms have real teeth. Despite the continued poor performance, the new Water (Special Measures) Act, which we brought into law this Spring, is already, by their own admission and that of the regulator which depends on fines for £6 of every £7 of its funding, shifting the ground beneath the feet of underperforming companies like South West Water. I wrote to residents last week outlining the action I’m taking to make sure this law doesn’t sit gathering dust — and to set out exactly what I expect from our regional water supplier.

First, South West Water must engage properly with regulators. Last year, the company launched a legal challenge against the Environment Agency to block access to monitoring data — a challenge it lost in March. This kind of obstruction is unacceptable. Regulators need full transparency to do their job, and the public deserves answers.

Second, while the company has committed £700-million to upgrading storm overflows, the timeline must be accelerated. A target of no more than 10 discharges per site per year is a start, but it still falls short — and must not be back-loaded to the end of the investment period as is so often the case.

Third, on resilience, whilst I welcome the steps South West Water is taking to ensure a consistent, dependable supply further steps may still be needed to avoid over-reliance on river extraction. I do not believe desalination at Par is the answer — it’s an expensive option with environmental impacts that remain poorly understood. I continue to urge the company to explore more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives.

I’ll be meeting with South West Water in the coming days. If I’m not satisfied our concerns are being taken seriously, I will call for leadership change at the top. Cornwall’s coastlines depend on it.