Danny Dyer and Becky Hill join water industry protest

Actor Danny Dyer, his daughter Dani Dyer and singer Becky Hill have attended a protest in Kent demanding public ownership of the water industry.

Activists from Surfers Against Sewage descended on Leysdown on Sunday after 315,000 signed a petition calling for the water industry to be returned to public ownership.

Rivals and EastEnders star Dyer, who has been running a caravan park on Isle of Sheppey as part of a new TV series, told the BBC: "Sometimes when you look out to the sea, you can smell the twang in the air."

Water UK said that "no sewage spill is ever acceptable", while Southern Water said it was committed to reducing storm overflows.

Dyer said that the quality of the water was "a disgrace".

"It's a very dangerous thing," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile Hill said that she loved swimming in the open water but found it "disgusting" to find human waste in the sea.

She said that she was campaigning for her family and other families for a cleaner sea.

"We can stand up and make a difference," she added.

Meanwhile Cliff Roney, a GMB activist who has worked in the water industry for more than 40 years, said: "I have seen this industry at its very best and now at its very worst.

"If the industry is not brought back into public ownership quickly, we are heading towards a national catastrophe."

Water UK said it was working to end sewage spills "as fast as we physically can".

"That's why we are tripling investment over the next five years to halve spills from storm overflows and upgrade the capacity of 1,700 wastewater treatment works," a spokesperson said.

"This is part of a record £104bn investment programme – the largest in the industry's history – to stop sewage entering our rivers and seas, secure our water supplies and support economic growth."

Southern Water's director for environment and innovation, Nick Mills, said its 10-year, £1.5bn Clean Rivers and Seas Plan was "already starting to make a difference".

"In Whitstable, we're harnessing both AI and nature-based solutions, and we're investing £90m in improvements to Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works. Together, these measures will dramatically reduce storm overflows in the area."

According to Defra's Bathing Water Quality site, the most recent classification for Leysdown is rated good, based on samples taken from 2022 to 2025.

There have been no pollution incidents reported there, the website states.

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