Warwick's MP has said £10 billion plans to clean up Britain's waterways are a step in the right direction, but says the money should not be raised by increasing bills for customers.

MP for Warwick and Leamington Matt Western has continued to campaign for stricter rules on the amount of sewage being dumped into local rivers, blaming a lack of action from the government.

Last week industry body Water UK issued a public apology for the rising number of spills and committed to the biggest modernisation of sewers "since the Victorian era" to fix the problem.

The statement said the public is "right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches" and promised to react to continued called for change.

Following the announcement, Mr Western said: "t's a step in the right direction but is only a result of constant calls from MPs including myself and campaigners who have made it clear time and time again that it is not acceptable.

"The government and the water companies should have never allowed it to get to this point.

"People deserve to be able to enjoy their rivers and waterways, not have to avoid them because they've been treated like an open sewer."

Matt Western has continued to speak out against the amount of sewage being dumped in waterways (image supplied)

And while the Labour MP welcomed the £10 billion investment to fix the issue he said he was "concerned to see" it will come as customers bills go up.

"These companies are making huge profits, with the industry paying out £1.4 billion to stakeholders in 2022," he added.

"It seems the wrong call to shift the bill, to fix the problem they caused, onto the public."

Data from the Environment Agency has shown there were 116 counted spills of untreated sewage from storm overflows in the Warwick and Leamington constituency in 2022.

This amounted to 486 hours of sewage being dumped into local rivers - the equivalent of more than 20 days of spillages.

Ruth Kelly, the chair of Water UK, said last week: "The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches.

"We have listened and have an unprecedented plan to start to put it right. This problem cannot be fixed overnight, but we are determined to do everything we can to transform our rivers and seas in the way we all want to see."

Water UK represents 25 water companies across the nation and issued the apology on behalf of its English companies.