Water and energy in West Itchenor
Figures last changed 22 October 2026. House prices for West Itchenor are on the main West Itchenor page.
- Storm overflow spills
- 22
- from one overflow within 1.5 km, 2025
- Nearest rated beach
- Excellent
- West Wittering, 4.5 km
- Rated C or better
- 43%
- of 184 homes with a certificate
- Off the gas grid
- 17%
- of homes, on their certificates
How often does sewage spill near West Itchenor?
Bosham wastewater works is the only monitored storm overflow within 1.5 km of a West Itchenor postcode, on the water companies' 2025 returns to the Environment Agency. It empties into Chichester Harbour Channel and spilled 22 times in 2025, for 221 hours in all. That is down from 65 spills and 742 hours in 2024. The Environment Agency put much of the fall across England down to an unusually dry 2025 after a particularly wet 2024. A storm overflow lets diluted sewage out into a river or the sea when heavy rain overloads the sewers. The counts use the Agency's method, in which the first 12 hours of a spill count as one and each 24 hours after that as another.
Source: Environment Agency storm overflow annual returns (Event Duration Monitoring) · Environment Agency: fewer and shorter storm overflow spills in 2025.
How clean is the water for swimming near West Itchenor?
Chichester Harbour itself is not a designated bathing water, so the Environment Agency does not test it for swimming or give it a rating. The nearest beach the Agency does rate is West Wittering, a median 4.5 km from West Itchenor's postcodes in a straight line, rated Excellent for 2025; next is Bracklesham Bay, 4.8 km away and rated Excellent. A rating covers the last four summers of samples, not any one day, and new ratings come out each November. Storm overflow spills near West Itchenor are covered in the sewage answer on this page.
How energy efficient are homes in West Itchenor?
Less efficient than the area as a whole, on their energy performance certificates. Of the 184 homes in West Itchenor with a certificate on the government register, 43% are rated C or better, against 50% across the Chichester council area; the most common rating is D. Mains gas heats 75% of the 183 whose main fuel is recorded, and electricity 16%. 17 have a heat pump. Of the 172 whose certificate records it, only 17% have no mains gas connection; 12 certificates do not say. 9% have solar panels, and seven have solar water heating. A certificate is only made when a home is sold, let or built, so homes that rarely change hands are missing, and an old one shows a home as it was then. Each home's latest certificate is used: issued between 2008 and 2026, half of them since 2020.
Source: Energy Performance of Buildings Register (GOV.UK Get energy performance of buildings data).
Water and energy in nearby places
- Birdham: No monitored storm overflow lies within 1.5 km of a Birdham postcode, on the 2025 returns.
- Bosham: Four monitored storm overflows within 1.5 km spilled 36 times in 2025, for 293 hours.
- Chidham and Hambrook: Four monitored storm overflows within 1.5 km spilled 27 times in 2025, for 239 hours.
- Southbourne: Eight monitored storm overflows within 1.5 km spilled 63 times in 2025, for 602 hours.
Figures cover 22 postcodes in West Itchenor. How these figures are made.