{"id":367677,"date":"2025-08-23T16:47:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T16:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367677\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T16:47:19","slug":"the-uk-seaside-town-thats-doubled-in-size-and-faces-1-huge-problem-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/367677\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK seaside town that’s ‘doubled in size’ and faces 1 huge problem | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dawlish<\/p>\n

Residents and visitors in Dawlish are very concerned about one thing (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

A seaside town which is “under increased pressure due to rapid growth” has to act quickly if it wants to mitigate one big issue. Dawlish is one of Devon’s thriving seaside resorts, but councillors worry that the town\u2019s population has doubled in size after a new housing development was built.<\/p>\n

As thousands of new homes spring up around Dawlish<\/a> and the surrounding area, and more and more homes need to use the sewers, wastewater networks are taking the brunt. The issue of sewage overflows has been worrying residents and locals alike.<\/p>\n

To try and stop the spills<\/a> going into the sea, South West Water is constructing a huge underground tank beneath the green area in the town known as The Lawn. This means some attractions are temporarily closed during the busy holiday season – and one local described the scene as “awful” worrying that “it will never be the same, destroying all the character and gardens”.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Devon’s ‘worst’ places to live as locals complain of ‘weirdos’ and ‘pickpockets’ <\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Heartbreak as dog kills black swan before its eggs could hatch <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dawlish<\/p>\n

Dawlish in Devon is tackling sewage overflows as South West Water installs a new tank system (Image: Tim Merry\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Lib Dems councillor Rosie Dawson said: “I think we\u2019ve definitely doubled in population (in Dawlish) which presents an additional challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work South West Water is carrying out aims to tackle pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Wrigley, Lib Dems MP for Newton Abbot, has lived in Teignbridge (the local government district\u00a0in Devon<\/a>\u00a0where Dawlish is situated) for over 25 years – and he is passionate about the area.<\/p>\n

He explained that South West Water (SWW) is separating foul water and rainwater runoff with the tank installation, meaning that when the work is completed, it will hopefully just be rainwater heading towards the sea.<\/p>\n

\"dawlish<\/p>\n

Dawlish has recently doubled in size (Image: Tim Merry\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

The overflow tank installation work is anticipated to take at least a year – and some residents were upset to see the crazy golf and its cafe closed for the summer holidays due to the upheaval.<\/p>\n

However, most of the closures are understood to be temporary, and although a number of road closures will also be in place for some periods of time while the work continues, the run-off tank could be a great benefit for the town in the long run.<\/p>\n

\"Dawlish<\/p>\n

Dawlish Lib Dems councillor Rosie Dawson (Image: Tim Merry\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Councillor Lynda Littlewood explained: \u201cThe way they are working is of benefit to Dawlish and SWW are doing all they can to work with the shops in The Strand to make sure the shops can continue to trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cSWW have also made allowances when Dawlish council have had events on the lawn which meant the work had to stop for a short while.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all aspects of the work the contractor has worked to make sure all people living in Dawlish have the least disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

Martin Wrigley, Lib Dems MP for Newton Abbot in Dawlish (Image: Tim Merry\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Dawlish is a buzzing traditional town with a thriving high street and of course the cherished resident black swans that the town is famous for, but MP Martin Wrigley acknowledges that there are also areas of high deprivation. And despite all the new homes that have been built recently, Dawlish is battling another issue: there are “not enough homes for locals”.<\/p>\n

The MP said: \u201cThere aren’t enough affordable homes, there are 1500 households on the waiting list.”<\/p>\n

He explained that the Government sets an amount of houses needed for the area and that the council and local ward has to “make that work”.<\/p>\n

\"Dawlish,<\/p>\n

Dawlish’s famous railway which often gets battered by waves in winter (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

One of the suspected causes of the lack of affordable housing in the town is Airbnbs and other short-let holiday rental properties.<\/p>\n

Mr Wrigley said: \u201cWe’re pushing for planning permission for holiday homes, the Government is clamping down on flipping homes into these kinds of businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cllr Dawson added:\u00a0\u201cSee what\u2019s been happening in Cornwall, it\u2019s actually happening everywhere (homes taken on for holiday lets), it needs to be balanced. But our community includes people that don\u2019t live here, families travel down to holiday every year – and once people come they keep coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents and visitors in Dawlish are very concerned about one thing (Image: Getty) A seaside town which is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[128736,41355,128737,1473,120050,128739,12,856,19290,94477,128738,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-367677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-black-swan","10":"tag-dawlish","11":"tag-dawlish-sewage-problem","12":"tag-devon","13":"tag-housing-development","14":"tag-martin-wrigley","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-pollution","17":"tag-seaside-town","18":"tag-sewage","19":"tag-south-west-water","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115079102443208610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}