“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,” said the Environment Agency.

“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.”

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 April 22, 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 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.”

United Utilities said it has now committed more than £100 million in response to the incident at Fleetwood Wastewater Treatment Works in 2023.

“The company spent more than £38 million in the initial incident response – including a £250,000 donation to Blackpool Council to provide immediate support to the tourism industry,” said United Utilities.

“A further £66 million is being invested replacing the treated wastewater pipe with a new permanent solution to increase long-term infrastructure resilience in the area. The project is expected to be completed by November.

“In addition to the new public paddling pool and splashpark, United Utilities will also fund the refurbishment of the Fleetwood Marine Lake, used by open-water swimmers, and contribute to facility upgrades for the Fleetwood Beach Wheelchair Charity.”

Chris Borradaile, Director for Wastewater Services, United Utilities, said: “We want to reiterate our sincere and unreserved apologies for this incident and the harm and disruption it caused. We accept responsibility for what happened and recognise that we fell short of the standards our customers and communities rightly expect.

“Since then, our focus has been on putting things right. We have committed more than £100 million to our response, including a permanent engineering solution to increase the resilience of our infrastructure, which is on track to be delivered three years earlier than would normally be expected for a project of this scale.

“Following consultation with local representatives, we are also investing in a range of community projects that will deliver lasting benefits for the people of Fleetwood and the Fylde coast.”