Storm fails to dampen Eastbourne’s call for cleaner seas

By Rebecca Maer 

The rage of Storm Austen and lashing rain may have driven the celebratory Mass Dip event  inside but a trifling tempest could not dampen the spirits of the dozens who gathered. 

The Belgian Cafe on Grand Parade stepped in at the last minute to offer a welcoming space for the community event, which had been scheduled to take place on the beach with a mass sea swim. 

The buzz of conversation, bright hand-painted decorations by Creative Eastbourne members and heartfelt speeches went ahead as rain pounded against the windows. 

Sea swimmers, plastic-free campaigners, beach cleaners and creatives mingled as a pebble painting competition got under way and speakers emphasised how important the sea is to all of them – and how it needs to be protected. 

Event organiser and sea swimmer Karine Morrison, a director of Plastic Free Eastbourne, said: “Going into the sea is about the community and resetting our minds.” She is taking part in Dip A Day in October to raise funds for Surfers Against Sewage.

Joe Wills, founder of men’s swimming group Trunks and Hunks, told the gathering: “I feel like I belong here. Aren’t we so lucky to live in Eastbourne and have the sea? My one goal is if I bring in one person into our community, I have done all right.” 

And Dee Thorogood, an open water swimming coach with Fish 2 Water, gave vital advice to anyone considering sea swimming. 

She explained that, when entering cold water, the body goes into survival mode, blood vessels constrict, and your blood pressure and heart rate rise. This is fine if you are in good health, but it’s important to go in slowly, acclimatise, relax and stay in your depth. 

But underlying the upbeat message of how beneficial the sea is were ever-present concerns about how much waste is deposited in the English Channel by the water company. 

Eastbourne Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde suggested that ecocide – the act of deliberately harming the environment – should be designated as a crime in the UK.

 He spoke to the gathering about the importance of sea to mental and physical health, and to the local economy. “It is the lifeblood of our town,” he said. 

“What some in our society fail to remember is that the sea is not theirs, it is ours. For too long, there have been forces in our society that take our money but do not take the responsibility,” he said. 

Babarinde cited Southern Water as an organisation which had dumped sewage into the sea.  

Southern Water was fined £90 million in July 2021 after admitting thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Sussex, Kent, and Hampshire. 

The MP said he had voted to ban bonuses for water company bosses, adding that a new regulator should be created to hold water companies to account more effectively. 

He went on: “We need to go even further: some countries have created new crimes – for example ecocide, causing grievous environmental harm. We need to make sure we recognise that damaging or scarring our natural environment like our sea has consequences.” 

Currently, 11 countries including France and Belgium have ecocide laws in place.  

Last year, six water companies, including Southern Water, were banned from paying bonuses to bosses if the companies did not meet environmental and consumer standards. In 2024, Lawrence Gosden, the chief executive of Southern Water, was given a £183,600 bonus. 

In 2025, Gosden did not receive a bonus due to a pollution incident at Florence Farm near Sevenoaks in Kent, according to the latest Southern Water annual report. 

Southern Water was fined £2.4m this year after multiple incidents of sewage pollution, including releasing untreated sewage, sewage debris, diesel and waste matter into the sea and a brook across a two-year period around Faversham and Whitstable in Kent.  

And in July, the company was given a £7.1m penalty for pollution that closed several beaches in Thanet for days. 

Gosden's base salary increased from £518,162 last year to £536,298 this year, a 3.5% increase. 

Cllr Jim Murray, Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet member for Carbon Neutral 2030 and Water Champion, told the Eastbourne Reporter: “This event highlights the beautiful beaches we have in Eastbourne and encourages residents to enjoy them for their wellbeing. But we are asking Southern Water to keep our seas clean.” 

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