Former Undertones frontman turned environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey is to visit Falmouth and Perranporth tomorrow.

Feargal Sharkey will be visiting both seaside towns on Thursday (June 13) as part of his ‘Stop the Sh*t Show’ nationwide tour to highlight the issue of pollution in Britain's waterways.

The Undertones singer, famous for hits such as Teenage Kicks, My Perfect Cousin, and (most fittingly) Here Comes the Summer, will be visiting Falmouth.

Mr Sharkey, the President of SERA, Labour’s Environment Campaign, will meet Jayne Kirkham, the Labour Party MP candidate in Truro and Falmouth, on Gyllyngvase Beach in the morning, before travelling up to meet with fellow environmental campaigners Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) – and Perran Moon, the Labour Party MP candidate in Camborne and Redruth - at Seiners Bar, next to Perranporth beach.

The Northern Irish former punk singer has a history of activism. First working for musicians’ rights, before turning his attention to water quality, borne out of a love of fly fishing, which he learned at school.

Mr Sharkey and Labour candidate Jayne Kirkham will meet on Gyllyngvase Beach to highlight Falmouth's struggles with sewage.

He'll also meet local anti-sewage campaigners, sea swimmers, and traditional Fal oyster fisherman Chris Ranger, who says he is losing as much as 80% of his catch due to concerns over the local water quality.

The popular sandy beach 15 minutes from the town centre endures constant spills caused by an overflow pipe to the west, as well as numerous others randomly releasing into Falmouth Bay.

It's a blight shared by fellow town beaches Swanpool and Castle Beach, and the Fal and Helford.

Feargal Sharkey will be meeting up again with Labour candidate Jayne Kirkham (Image: Labour party)

Jayne Kirkham said: "Gylly is so much more than a beach. It's the beating heart of Falmouth. A home for local swimming groups, paddleboarders and dog-walkers, there's always something to see, from sunrise yoga lessons, to the Surf Life Saving Club training sessions, to the annual flagship SAS co-ordinated Paddle Out, which I was a part of this year.

“Sewage discharges are turning people away and who can blame them? Who wants to swim in poo?"

In Perranporth Mr Sharkey will be meeting with Labour candidate Perran Moon, who works in renewable energy and is a regular sea swimmer, as well as officials from SAS and other campaigning groups, including the Perranporth Bluetits.

Local sea swimmers not only check the wind and the tide before pulling on their wetsuits they also check the SAS app for news of any spills from the many Combined Sewage Overflow pipes (CSOs) found at various points around the Cornish coast.

Water companies use CSOs to discharge waste water when the sewerage system becomes overloaded, leading to pollution incidents. In 2022 Gyllyngvase Beach had 70 sewage alerts, according to SAS.

And while Gyllyngvase is a Blue Flag beach, many Blue Flag beaches have CSOs nearby. On the north coast, in 2023 sewage polluted Portreath beach for 120 times, lasting 2,180 hours.

Westminster legislation states CSOs can only be used in ‘exceptional circumstances’ but in 2021 alone, water companies pumped 2.7 million hours of sewage into Britain's beaches and watercourses from the 20,000 plus CSOs across the nation. And that's only counting legal discharge.

Perran Moon said: "Quite simply, under a Labour government, the water companies will be put into special measures until they clean up their act. And if they fail to do so, we will put water bosses in the dock. They will face criminal charges. The time for talk is over. The people of Cornwall demand action and quickly."