South West Water is investing around £2 million in Budleigh Salterton's sewerage network in the period up to March 2025.

A group of residents met representatives from the company earlier this month to discuss multiple discharges from the Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) at the Lime Kiln pumping station in recent months, which led them to question the safety of swimming in the sea.

This week South West Water told the Journal: "We currently have groundwater finding its way into the wastewater network in Budleigh which is causing the storm overflows to spill more often than they should.

"We will shortly be relining the pipes to prevent this water from entering the network. In the long term, we are exploring the potential to install a new pumping station to help manage flows as well as continuing further improvement works in the area to ensure the quality of the bathing water is maintained.

"Bathing water quality at Budleigh Salterton beach has been classified as ‘Excellent’ by the Environment Agency for the last four years."