Feargal Sharkey will visit Ilkley on Sunday (17 March) to support the Ilkley Clean River Group's campaign to stop residents paying more money to for Yorkshire Water to treat sewage.
Feargal has become a figurehead for the campaign to prevent water companies dumping sewage into UK waterways and will speak outside the Riverside Hotel in the Riverside Memorial Gardens in Ilkley between 12.30 and 1.15pm.
A spokesperson for the group said: "Next week Yorkshire Water presents their plans to update the sewage works at Ilkley to make it compliant with Bathing Status legislation. It says this is innovative enhancement and the customer has to pay for it. Having just put our bills up, Yorkshire Water is planning to hike them again to an average £585 (at current prices) by 2030, a 32% increase, to pay for basic treatment of most of our sewage.
"Feargal will set out how Yorkshire Water is using financial practices such as inter-company loans (for instance 'lending' £941M to its holding company rather than using that money to sort out our sewage system) to generate financial gain for the owners and shareholders, whilst fleecing local people and polluting our rivers and seas."