OPINION
Or maybe names of people who are full of shit!
We have of course for a long time now been attempting to get answers as to the state of Smethwick Hall Park and the pollution to this and other local water bodies caused by the scum water company Severn Trent and their failed under invested network. Sporadically, and coinciding with visible pollution entering the site in Margaret Gardens/Londonderry Lane , we get botulism bird deaths which disappear when the pollution disappears. This was the case in July 2024 when I last wrote about the issue, and please do read this for the context of the saga which explains how botulism is created by dirty contaminated water.
Numerous emails have followed these events as well as telephone calls- all to fuck all avail when the powers that be do absolutely nothing to stop it- either flat denying there is a problem or failing in regulation to take action. I set out here below these communications in full and the responses from the first two individuals so that everyone can see what we are dealing with here. It is dishonesty, lies, apathy and gross incompetence. Above all however it shows the disastrous failure of Thatcher in privatising the water industry and creating a free for all profit for shareholder fucking filth whilst the environment is poisoned by corporate greed and shat into rivers, streams and pools.
LIV GARFIELD
The bloated fat cat CEO of the Coventry cunt flush mafia.
Garfield has openly lied to Parliament. I made several calls to this scum company who failed to get back to me. Reference numbers were taken and yet still no response, so I copied in the fat cat setting out my stall.
“Ref
4002759657
4002766413
I have spoken numerous times to customer services about the continuing pollution and botulism issues caused by your companies failure to stop pollution misconnections going into Smethwick Hall park. Each time I am told that someone called James is aware and is going to contact me. HE HAS FAILED TO DO SO AT ALL. Birds are dying on this lake and you have failed to communicate anything whilst also lying about the continued pollution. Your company are a bunch of lying scum, and do not care about the birds you are killing. This email is not confidential and neither will be your reply.
Ian Carroll swanwatch”
This drew out a response , obviously written by her PR, and I make comment in my follow up regards the bullshit being spewed from the Coventry network.
“ST Classification: OFFICIAL PERSONAL
Dear Ian,
Thank you for getting in touch and for raising your concerns about Smethwick Hall Park.
Firstly, I’m extremely sorry to hear of the recent bird deaths – this is of course absolutely awful, but I need to be clear that this isn’t as a result of Severn Trent activities or our assets in the area. My teams are constantly checking, sampling and monitoring in and around the pool.
When we were made aware of the bird deaths, we immediately took further ammonia samples, which all came back as normal, indicating there was no sewage pollution. We are committed to making sure we’re doing everything we can to improve the water quality in the lake and will continue our monitoring and sampling programme. This includes regularly checking all our assets in the area. We will also work with everyone involved to support their efforts to improve the health of the pool.
Following issues at the pool over five years ago, we worked closely with the Environment Agency to help improve the water quality by pumping clean water in to improve oxygen levels. We also made improvements to our network to prevent future issues and our work has helped to improve the water quality in the Park.
Thank you again for getting in touch – I hope I have been able to reassure you that the recent bird deaths are not connected to any Severn Trent activity.
Best wishes
Liv”
I responded below, also copying in Kerrie Carmichael leader of SMBC.
“Dear Liv Garfield,
Thank you for at least responding to my concerns about pollution in this lake, but I note that neither customer care or your frontline operative have bothered to do so to date.
There is undeniable pollution entering this lake. This is in the form of misconnections as I pointed out during every report I have made to the EA and your company. The smell of washing machines and white water is clear evidence of this, and this issue is well known to your company at this site, entering the pool via the brook course which is very much your asset. The sanitary towels in the lake come from where exactly?
I understand that Sandwell council employees have independently of myself taken pictorial evidence of the white water, and it is after these events that birds are becoming ill from botulism. The condition and environment of the lake are very poor, and in truth have never recovered from years of pollution caused by your company, sewage releases and these uncorrected misconnections. There is a direct connection between this awful water quality and the bird deaths and illness. You do not reassure me at all that STW activities are unrelated to the bird deaths, indeed in 2019 following the sewage pollution your company also denied that the bird deaths had anything to do with that, which is totally dishonest and risible, as are your claims now that the water quality of this lake has been improved. Have you visited the site yourself?
Can I therefore ask if your company monitor this site as you claim as to how many misconnections they have identified still entering the lake? Previous claims by your company as to how many there were are supplied for your information.
I was keen to get this figure from James your catchment lead as he is mentioned in the 2019 NIRS report from the EA for your information. This stated “The crew have been out and confirmed that there is a misconnection at the location. The property in question, Margaret Gardens. Approx. 20 properties which connect to a foul line which then leads to a surface water line that then leads to the outfall. There is a lot of misconnection work to be done.”
NATIONAL INCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM (whatdotheyknow.com)
The email from Amy Robinson of SMBC was relayed to me in 2021 from information from STW, but with no further updates. This stated that there were still 11 identified misconnections at this point, so can you tell me how many of these were corrected and are now not misconnected to your assets and therefore not causing pollution? Can I further ask how many properties you have surveyed following this recent spell of pollution, and how many misconnections you have since found? How many more properties have you still to survey?
If you do not consider it your company’s remit to prevent these misconnections or identify them, then who do you propose its remit it should be? The EA appear to send your company out every time to check pollution, leaving you to mark your own work and claim there is no pollution. This stinks and it cannot continue when there are denials at every stage following environmental sentinels dying from polluted water. Can you confirm what tests were actually taken, including oxygen levels and PH, , where on the lake they were taken and give these in actual figures that can be scrutinised please? The area of most concern is the inlet tray that first enters the pool from your asset, where you have a sign asking people to report pollution they see to your number. I would ask if you do not consider that dirty water entering this pool is not your problem, then why do you have these signs stationed at this point?
Can I therefore for one last time reach out to you to personally intervene in this issue and fix it. Otherwise I hope Sandwell Council will take whatever appropriate action is necessary to force you to. Perhaps you can outline your concerns Kerrie, as leader of SMBC as to how you see the issue putting pressure on your staff and the third sector in Sandwell like myself trying to help ill and dying birds?
Regards Ian Carroll
“Dear Ian,
We have firm commitments (Get River Positive pledges) to transform the health of our region’s rivers and we believe that is important for everyone to play their part to protect the environment.
We haven’t found any high ammonia levels recently but will continue to take samples of the water quality at the lake.
Although we are not responsible for the bird deaths. We appreciate your efforts to reach out to inform us about what you have seen recently at the park, especially the water colour changes and smells.
As part of the 2019 investigation, we did find several private properties which we believed were responsible for the misconnections.
We were not responsible for the bird deaths then, but we decided to further improve our network for the future alongside working with the Environment Agency to improve the park’s lake. As you have correctly identified, misconnections are commonly from faults as part of connecting equipment such as washing machines or toilets to the surface water drain.
Unfortunately, we cannot control what individuals choose to flush down their system, but we have been strongly campaigning to raise awareness on what should and shouldn’t be flushed down (3 P’s: Pee, Poo & Paper).
We have been supporting more recent campaigns on stopping Microplastics and wet wipes being flushed down as well. The misconnections exacerbate blockages and result in items such as sanitary products ending in the water course.
Resolving misconnections are more complex when it is located on private properties, because we do not have the legal power to force the private property to make any changes – we can only inform them of the issue and provide recommendations.
At the time of the investigation, we notified the properties so that they were aware of the issue, why it is a concern and how they could fix it.
We provided the relevant authorities (EA and Local Authority) with all the details of our investigations and have continued to support the work they do to help protect our environment.
Thank you again for your email and I hope to reassure you that we have a passion and drive to work alongside others to reduce harm to the environment.
Best Wishes,
Liv”
Liv Garfield (Pronouns: She/Her)
Chief Executive
As can be seen here, this “she/her” failed to answer my questions. I did not respond further as I am dealing here with a pathological deluded liar who is on personal bonuses for telling untruths and obviously revels in shit mostly emitted from her own posh gob hole. #TURD
KERRIE CARMICHAEL
The redundant and increasing clueless leader of Sandwell Council.
I will always give people a fair crack of the whip, despite what opinion they have garnered of me from others, but when they fail to engage, respond to emails or give me any type of courtesy or respect, I will call them out as a fucking waste of space.
After the abysmal replies of the scum, Garfield to the issue, I copied in Kerrie Carmichael in the hope that she would finally instruct officers of the council to take legal action against the liar from Coventry and her network of turds.
“Dear Kerrie,
You are aware of the situation at Smethwick Hall Park and the involvement of council staff. This is a time constraint on them, and an expense to tax payers which is regrettable in that a privatised water company are causing the problem.
I am well aware of Labour’s condemnation of how these privatised water companies have been acting, and agree with the line stated in the manifesto and the talk leading up to the election. What I am not clear on however is the politicisation of this and then the silence when Labour is in power. Why is that? I heard nothing in the public domain condemning Severn Trent from Maria Crompton or Yvonne Davies and I have also heard nothing, seen nothing from the three ward councillors, or from John Spellar on his own patch.
This is disappointing, and I wonder if you will now address my direct concern and practice condemnation of the source rather than politicking?
This situation is a disgrace and cannot continue. Birds can be saved, and we have saved a coot and duck from the pool who have made a full recovery. Many others however have perished. I am grateful to what the council are doing, but this is now in your hands and I am not going to ignore another political silence without criticism on my blog about this very fact.
Can you therefore give me your thoughts on this matter and how they affect you, and what action you intend to take against Severn Trent and what discussions you are going to have with their CEO Liv Garfield? She is remember paid millions in personal bonuses for her failure to prevent pollution.
I would like to see her visit this site, and be summoned to do so by the new MP, whom I do not know or have had any dealings with. Perhaps you can brief Gurinder and as he is not my MP initiate a meeting at the site where I can explain the situation and he can see and smell the dirty water entering the pool from the Severn Trent asset, for misconnections they appear incapable of stopping. I enclose the situation as it stood in 2021, but wonder what progress they claim to have made since then, when the problem is evidentially still there, as your officers will hopefully have told you, separate to my concerns which do back up my claims.
Regards Ian”
NB, This email was sent on 17th July 2024.
She responded on 26th July 2024. There was not much to this as can be seen, but she did promise to get back with a more substantive response.
“Apologies Ian for my delayed response.
I will definitely look into this and sort some correspondence out – I agree that it is not good enough that our wildlife and natural flora is being depleted.
I will get back to you.
With best wishes
Cllr Kerrie Carmichael
Leader of the Council”
Despite this, I heard nothing except from whoever Joanne Davis is at the council on 1st August 2024. This response sounded more PR than anything, but again promises were made to get back to me with a fuller response.
By the 29th August 2024, and well after the 10 days that Joanne Davis had stated in her email, I had still had no official reply so sent a chaser.
This was again ignored, and so I also copied in Joanne Davis on 1st September 2024
Imagine my surprise therefore when I got two pingbacks from this. The first from the leader claiming she was unavailable! WTF?
And more bizarre still, Joanne Davis claiming that she had already left Sandwell council altogether!
On 3rd September 2024, and after posting something on social media, which obviously promoted a hasty response, Carmichael claimed that she had written to Severn Trent and was awaiting a response. I have no idea of the contents of that communication. I am also baffled that she did not appear to know that Joanne Davis had also left the council by this time!
I HAVE HEARD NOTHING FURTHER FROM HER SINCE NOR FROM ANY OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL ABOUT THIS MATTER!
I last sent a reminder and asked what the response was on 27th November 2024.
Despite being briefed by officers who told me they were briefing her, the council have done nothing about this issue, as they did nothing in 2019 with the initial pollution. I have been told that some group within the council has been set up, and yet the elephant in the room appears to have ignored the issues of Severn Trent and be more concerned about people leaving plastic bags on the railings along Londonderry Lane. There have also been new signs put up warning people of being fined for feeding birds. Pity they don’t think about taking action against real polluters.

The last time the council tried to threaten bird feeders, it made the national press after fining a single mother with a toddler.
The issue of feeding has continued throughout the year, and yet when the pollution into the pool stopped, so did the bird deaths. Do you therefore Sandwell council/Kerrie Carmichael think that there is a causal link between the pollution and deaths or feeding and no deaths when the pollution stops? If you or your officers are really that fucking stupid in not making a direct connection, I really do think that I am wasting my time.
But not resting on her laurels, the leader it was announced during her long silence on this matter “won” an award from the RSPCA.
There’s more to the “award” for Sandwell council’s leader than meets the eye, and five minutes of internet search reveals that. The pawprints award scheme is basically a self nomination award scheme run by the RSPCA for their own PR and that of public sector bodies. The “Massingham award” named after Gertrude Speedwell Massingham, nee Black is an opportunity for mutual self promotion. Massingham was NEVER an MP as falsely stated on the RSPCA website, she stood for election in 1929 Petersfield constituency finishing last as a labour candidate. She was taken in by trade unionist Clementina Black, her aunt after her father murdered her mother and brother and then himself. Perhaps these abandonment issues stirred some instinct in the lady in question?
What work she did for the RSPCA, and for animals I do not know, and there has to be a ring of Rachael Reeves about her CV given the lie about her career but at least tell people factual info and not bullshit RSPCA “public affairs”. In fact, and as further evidence, there is not a single mention of this lady in Hansard, so what she actually did for animals is not even recorded there. Fuck, even I myself have one more mention in Parliament than this woman. 😆 😆 😆
Carmichael is not the sole “winner” but actually one of four “winners” of this award this year, and I wonder how many entries there actually were and how many were unsuccessful? Public relations is the action of telling people lies and dishonest statements dressed up with a cherry on top.
KIER STARMER
The useless tool Prime Minister
I can not in my lifetime remember a Government that has entered power becoming so unpopular in such a short space of time as this arseholes! The tragedy is that people believe that voting for the other party, only two will ever get in of course in this “democracy”- , will bring “change”. There are in reality a choice of two dictatorships where billionaire corporations and the civil service retain their power.
Starmergeddon has already failed people and his minions are liars and make up personal boasts on their cvs whilst emptying your bank balance. The biggest betrayal when it comes to the theme of sewage is the failure to reverse privatisation of this corrupt industry, so that lying scum like Garfield can retain all of their bonuses as well as paying dividends to the cancerous vermin who own the shares.
Labour has not got tough on sewage pollution, it has failed. It has failed to stop the pollution, and now it appears that instead of getting Garfield and co to cough up, it is the taxpayer who will foot the bill to repair networks that are decades out of date, as a result of Thatcher’s privatisation failure.
The buck stops with Starmer and no one else. #TURD
WHAT THREE TURDS
LIV.KERRIE.KIER