Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit

Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit
Friday 27 February
10am - 11.30am
Watch online on Facebook and YouTube

The Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit, convened by Cllr Leigh Frost Leader of Cornwall Council, will bring together the authorities, agencies and organisations involved in water quality, with the ability to identify and deliver solutions to the ongoing issues Cornwall is dealing with.

Cornwall Council passed a motion 'Working to End the Sewage Scandal' in September 2025, calling for urgent action to tackle sewage pollution in the region’s rivers and beaches. The motion commits the Council to work with South West Water and other stakeholders, including through a summit, to address repeated pollution incidents.

The Summit will explain how organisations are working to tackle pollution in Cornwall’s rivers and beaches, acknowledging that water health and quality is complex and requires collective action and personal responsibility. It will be evidence-led, briefly addressing the current state of water in Cornwall, looking at trends and challenges including sewage discharges, land management, and urban runoff.

"The health of our ocean and rivers is a complex issue that requires collective action and personal responsibility. Cornwall Council can have a far bigger impact - beyond the reactive legal powers we have - acting as a convener, bringing together all the agencies and organisations involved in understanding the problems and identifying and putting solutions into action. We can also ensure residents’ concerns are heard."
Cllr Leigh Frost, Leader of Cornwall Council

The Summit is intended to be the start of an ongoing conversation between partners and key stakeholders, leading to initiatives that will help address water quality and quantity aimed at improving the health of our rivers and seas. This will also include a conversation about some of the ongoing issues being experienced in Cornish towns and villages after the recent heavy rainfall.

The event will be chaired by Julie Skentelbery, from BBC Radio Cornwall. Julie will take questions from the invited audience for the Panel to respond to and discuss, as well as questions from residents to ensure their concerns are heard.

The Panel
The Summit Panel will bring together a group of representatives of stakeholder organisations, involved in water quality, to discuss and work together to improve water quality across Cornwall. The Panellists will be from Cornwall Council, SWW, Environment Agency, Cornwall NFU, Country Land and Business Association, Marine and Coastal Partnership, Surfers Against Sewage, Westcountry Rivers Trust, and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Invited Audience
The Panel will hear about and discuss the causes and possible solutions with an invited audience of key stakeholders, who will ask questions of the panellists and contribute to the discussion. The expectation is that the Summit will not end as a one-off conversation but will result in collective and tangible actions from the organisations involved in the solutions.

Watch the Summit
The Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit will be live-streamed

• Join the Summit on Facebook
• You can also join on YouTube

Questions for the Panel
You can submit your question for the Panel, up to 9am on Monday 23 February, using the form below.