As mayoral speeches go, it didn't get off to the usual start.

“If I defecate in the river,” pondered Councillor Andrew Williams, “I'd be prosecuted. So why do Yorkshire Water feel it's acceptable?”

The mayor of Ripon was putting the question to Tim Myatt, Yorkshire Water's head of corporate affairs, at a meeting of Ripon City Council last night (November 9).

The council had demanded that Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw face its members after passing a motion in September calling on the company to stop dumping sewage in the city, so children could “paddle safely in our rivers free from pee and poo”.

Ms Shaw subsequently resigned – a development more likely prompted by the Environment Agency's decision to downgrade Yorkshire Water's environmental performance to the lowest possible rating than the prospect of a hostile evening in Ripon.

Instead, the unenviable task of flak-catcher fell to Mr Myatt.

A former Conservative Harrogate borough councillor who worked for ex-Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, he is no stranger to handling awkward questions and disgruntled councillors.

He came armed with a 14-page briefing document, distributed before the meeting. Its cover featured a river so clear that the trees were reflected in the water.

The council's agenda pack offered a rather different image: a rat rummaging through sewage on the banks of the River Skell in central Ripon.

Finding common ground was never going to be easy.

Reducing discharges

Mr Myatt explained that the Environment Agency permits Yorkshire Water to discharge wastewater through 2,200 combined sewer overflows (CSOs) across Yorkshire when the network is at capacity. Twenty-four of these are on the River Ure, of which the Skell is a tributary.

The company's ambition, he said, was to reduce the average number of discharges from each CSO from 31 to 16 between 2025 and 2030.

Cllr Tony Duncan questioned how that could be achieved when hundreds of new homes were due to connect to a sewage system that was already struggling to cope.

Mr Myatt pointed to plans to increase storage capacity, including schemes involving the under-performing clock tower initiative, and upgrades to CSOs at Borrage Bridge and Blossomgate. Attenuation tanks on new developments would also play a part.

Floating condoms

Then, living up to his promise to be “direct and blunt”, Cllr Williams asked why condoms and tampons could be seen at some CSOs.

Mr Myatt suggested that the grills designed to prevent solid waste passing through might not be working properly.

Cllr Jackie Crozier, who proposed the motion inviting Yorkshire Water to the meeting, said the council was seeking accountability and meaningful action, not perfection. She suggested the appearance should be the first of regular meetings.

As the questions began to dry up, Mr Myatt filled the remaining airtime with a familiar corporate repertoire: £1.5 billion being invested to reduce discharges, nutrient reduction and the company's five-year corporate plan.

Somehow, the conversation even drifted towards eradicating mink from the Skell and Ure.

Mr Myatt promised to respond to any questions he had been unable to answer, while the city council said it would publish them online.

That was about the only tangible outcome of the evening. No new commitments, no firm timetable and no immediate reassurance for residents worried about what is flowing through their rivers.

'Deeply frustrating'

Afterwards, Ripon resident Brian McHugh, who spoke at the meeting, described Yorkshire Water's responses as “deeply frustrating and disappointing”.

“There appears to be no clear road map on how they will reduce sewage discharges into Ripon's rivers, or a clear timeline on how this might be accomplished,” he said.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Barbara Brodigan said her party was happy to work with the Ripon Independents Putting Residents before Party Politics group, adding that she was “glad to see that they are on board with issues that we first raised in June / July this year”.

Cllr Williams, who leads the Independents group, described the meeting as a “starting point” which had put Ripon on Yorkshire Water's radar.

“Any set of problems only starts to get resolved by starting a conversation,” he said.

Faeces, it seems, will continue to flow into Ripon's rivers for some time.