Stop the Sewage: Join Our Protest for Public Ownership of Water
On Sunday 20 September, campaigners, entertainers and members of the public will come together in Leysdown-on-Sea to demand an end to sewage pollution and a water industry run for people and the environment, not private profit.
The Stop the Sewage protest is being organised by SOS Whitstable in support of our petition calling for the water industry to be returned to public ownership. More than 315,000 people have already signed, making it one of the UK’s largest public campaigns of its kind.
Join Danny and Dani Dyer, Becky Hill, Cliff Roney, Ash Smith and Julie Maughan as we tell the government that enough is enough.
Bring a placard. Dress up. Make some noise. Let’s make ourselves impossible to ignore.
Protest details
Date: Sunday 20 September 2026
Time: 11:00am
Location: The Garden Café, Shellness Road, Leysdown-on-Sea, Sheerness, ME12 4RH
Parking
Parking at the event venue is limited. Once those spaces are full, extensive parking is available in the centre of Leysdown, approximately a 5–10 minute walk from the protest. Please allow a little extra time to park and walk to The Garden Café.
Meet the speakers
Danny Dyer — actor and presenter
Danny Dyer is one of Britain’s most recognisable actors and television personalities. His film credits include Human Traffic, The Football Factory and The Business, while millions of viewers know him as Mick Carter from EastEnders, a role he played for almost a decade.
More recently, Danny has starred in the television series Mr Bigstuff and Rivals. He won the 2025 BAFTA for Male Performance in a Comedy Programme for his performance in Mr Bigstuff. Known for speaking plainly about politics, class and the issues affecting ordinary people, Danny will take to the stage in support of the campaign for public ownership of water.
Dani Dyer — television personality and presenter
Dani Dyer rose to national prominence when she won Love Island in 2018. She has since built a successful career across television and audio, appearing in programmes including Celebrity Gogglebox, Celebrity MasterChef, Dani Dyer: Is This Anxiety?, Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy and The Dyers’ Caravan Park.
She has also co-hosted the Live and Let Dyers podcast with her father, Danny. Dani will join him in Leysdown-on-Sea to help draw attention to sewage pollution and the growing public demand for fundamental reform of the water industry.
Becky Hill — singer and songwriter
Becky Hill is one of the most successful and recognisable voices in British dance music. After first reaching a national audience on The Voice UK in 2012, she went on to achieve a UK number-one single with “Gecko (Overdrive)” and further major hits including “Wish You Well”, “Remember”, “Crazy What Love Can Do” and “Disconnect”.
Becky won the BRIT Award for Best Dance Act in both 2022 and 2023 and has collaborated with artists including David Guetta, Chase & Status, Joel Corry and Sigala.
She has recently thrown her support behind the campaign to tackle Britain’s sewage crisis after watching Channel 4’s Dirty Business, which she said left her “completely, obsessively enraged”. In September 2026, Becky joined Giles Bristow of Surfers Against Sewage and campaigner Julie Maughan at Downing Street to deliver a separate petition signed by more than 340,000 people calling on the government to put public health before water-company profits.
Becky has also backed bringing water companies into public ownership. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “This is water. This is something we all need, and we can’t live without.” She will now bring that support to Leysdown-on-Sea and speak alongside campaigners demanding urgent change.
Cliff Roney — GMB activist and water-industry veteran
Cliff Roney is a GMB activist and former water worker who spent more than 40 years in the industry. He has first-hand experience of how the service has changed and has repeatedly warned about the consequences of underinvestment, failing infrastructure and the pressure being placed on water-industry staff.
Cliff also contributed to Channel 4’s factual drama Dirty Business, which examined the human and environmental consequences of England’s sewage scandal. He has become a prominent advocate for bringing water back into public ownership to protect consumers, workers and the natural environment.
“I have seen this industry at its very best and now at its very worst. Infrastructure is falling to pieces, there has been a lack of maintenance and investment, and staff are on their knees trying to keep the system running. The time bomb has exploded, and governments cannot continue to kick the can down the road.”
Ash Smith — founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution
Ash Smith is the founder and chair of trustees of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP). Before becoming an environmental campaigner, he served for 30 years with Thames Valley Police and retired as a detective superintendent in 2010.
Ash has been investigating the sewage scandal since 2016, combining fieldwork, evidence gathering, and detailed scrutiny of water-company and regulatory conduct. His work with Professor Peter Hammond formed the central story of Channel 4’s Dirty Business, in which Ash was portrayed by actor David Thewlis.
Ash also created an official UK Parliament petition calling for a binding national referendum on returning the water industry to public ownership. More than 205,000 people have signed the petition, which will be debated in Parliament on 14 September and remains open until 1 October 2026.
“The truth just screams out: end it now, before it does even more harm to our country.”.
Julie Maughan is a campaigner for clean water and public health whose family’s story forms one of the most moving strands of Channel 4’s Dirty Business. In 1999, her eight-year-old daughter, Heather Preen, died after contracting E. coli O157 during a family holiday at Dawlish Warren in Devon.
Evidence at the inquiry included earlier complaints of sewage on the beach and illness among several families who had been swimming there. Julie has courageously shared Heather’s story to highlight the potentially devastating consequences of polluted water and to help prevent another family suffering a similar tragedy.
Julie has also supported and raised funds for Kidney Research UK and Surfers Against Sewage. In September 2026, she joined Becky Hill and other campaigners at Downing Street to deliver a petition signed by more than 340,000 people demanding that the government put public health before water-company profits.
Speaking to The Guardian, Julie explained why she believes public ownership is essential:
“Water is a life force; we can’t live without it and public health will suffer if you’re more concerned about profit.”
Why are we protesting?
The privatisation of the water industry has failed. The public is being asked to accept polluted rivers and beaches, ageing infrastructure, leaks and rising bills while shareholders continue to receive dividends and senior executives receive substantial pay and bonuses.
Sewage pollution damages wildlife and fragile ecosystems, threatens public health and harms the coastal communities, tourism businesses and people whose livelihoods depend on clean water. Despite years of public anger, fines and promises of improvement, the crisis continues.
Water is not an optional consumer product. It is an essential public service and a natural resource on which every person and community depends. We believe it should be run transparently and in the public interest, with its income reinvested in maintaining pipes, improving treatment works, preventing pollution and protecting workers and customers.
What are we calling for?
We are calling on the government to:
Return the water industry to permanent public ownership
Reinvest revenue in infrastructure, maintenance and pollution prevention
Put environmental protection and public health ahead of shareholder returns
Protect the jobs, conditions and pensions of water-industry workers
Create a transparent and accountable service that answers to the public
More than 315,000 people have already backed this call by signing our petition. On 20 September, we will bring that demand directly into the public eye.
How you can help
Come to the protest. Join us at The Garden Café in Leysdown-on-Sea from 11:00am on Sunday 20 September.
Sign the petition. Add your name to the campaign to return water to public ownership.
Spread the word. Share this page and the petition with your friends, family and social-media followers.
Contact your MP. Ask them to support public ownership and demand urgent action to end sewage pollution.
Together, we can build a water industry that works for people, communities and the environment.