Rivals star Danny Dyer, his daughter Dani, and singer Becky Hill have joined a protest demanding public ownership of the water industry.

The “stop the sewage” protest took place in Leysdown-on-Sea, Kent, on Sunday, as more than 315,000 people signed a petition calling for the water industry to be returned to public ownership.

Ed Acteson, co-founder of SOS Whitstable and creator of the petition, said: “The public has had enough of being asked to accept polluted waterways, failing infrastructure and rising bills while shareholders and senior executives continue to be rewarded.

“Water is an essential public service, not a vehicle for private profit.”

He added: “We want an industry run in the interests of people and the environment, with its income reinvested in the system rather than extracted from it.”

Cliff Roney, a GMB activist who has worked in the water industry for more than 40 years, said: “I have seen this industry at its very best and now at its very worst.

“Infrastructure is falling to pieces, there has been a lack of maintenance and investment, no reservoirs are being built, and staff are on their knees trying to keep the system running.

“If the industry is not brought back into public ownership quickly, we are heading towards a national catastrophe.”