Exmouth environment protesters have marched to Simon Jupp's constituency office in Exmouth to highlight sewage pollution.

Local campaigners brought a a blue plaque to their MP’s office in Exmouth on Saturday, January 28 to highlight what they call the 'shocking state of our bathing waters.'

ESCAPE (End Sewage Convoys And Poollution Exmouth), Transition Exmouth, Plastic Free Exmouth, Tidelines, Women Swimmin’ and TEDS swimming group joined together as part of a national day of action with Extinction Rebellion across the UK.

They marched from Pier Head at 12.30pm, carrying a plaque for Simon Jupp MP before walking to the sea by the lifeboat station and along Exmouth seafront to end up at Simon Jupp's office at Exmouth Marina.

The plaque said: 'Simon Jupp Conservative MP: stand up to South West Water and protect Exmouth from sewage.'

Councillor Joe Whibley said: “This is an awful situation for our environment, not to mention the fact that it could devastate our growing watersports-related tourism ventures.

“We’re horrified every time a BBC crew turns up to report on the state of the waters. And South West Water have so far offered nothing quick and nothing concrete.

“Together with the Environment Agency, we need our representatives to create tougher standards for what is, and more importantly what isn’t, acceptable.”

Mary Culhane of Women 'Swimmin’ said: “The situation is so bad that last year Exmouth was ranked as the second worst Blue Flag beach for sewage spills in Devon, with the beach closed to swimmers in September.

“Profiteering water companies rake in multi-million-pound profits and hand huge bonuses to their CEOs whilst we are left to swim in raw sewage."

An ESCAPE spokesman said: “A revolving door of Environment Secretaries and a government in disarray has led to little action being taken to hold water companies to account, especially the poorest performers like South West Water.

“Instead, we just get empty threats from government and lethargy from industry regulators.

“To my mind, what we’re seeing can only be described as complete abandonment of responsibility for pollution on the part of the water companies and Environment Agency.”

Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, said in response: “I recently met with some of the campaigners who were involved in this protest and we’ve started working together to hold South West Water to account. I would never vote to pollute our water, despite some politically motivated claims suggesting otherwise. I’m from Devon, I live near the sea in Sidmouth, and I love where we live. If campaigners truly want to hold South West Water’s feet to the fire over their failures, I’d encourage them to put down their placards and work with me. I will continue to work with local groups and councils to get South West Water to clean up their act.”

A South West Water spokesman said: “Our largest environmental investment programme in 15 years, WaterFit, is now well underway, delivering benefits for customers and the environment. We are investing £330 million in our wastewater network to dramatically reduce our use of storm overflows by 2025 and maintain our region’s excellent bathing water quality standards all year round.

“We have been working hard to reduce the impact of storm overflows, and in the last bathing season, we reduced spills by 50% on the previous year, with the duration of those spills down by 75%. The South West has some of the best bathing waters in Europe. We recently achieved 100% coastal bathing water quality for the second time across 860 miles of coastline, with 99% rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ compared to just 28% in 1991.”