RESIDENTS in a Suffolk town say their lives are being blighted by a festering sewage smell.

John Howard

RESIDENTS in a Suffolk town say their lives are being blighted by a festering sewage smell.

Homeowners and senior councillors believe the smell over the upmarket Cedars Park estate in Stowmarket, is coming from Anglian Water's nearby sewage treatment works.

But the firm said that while there are some smells from its site, there is also muck spreading in fields nearby which could be the source of the stench.

Roger Willison-Gray, chairman of the Cedars Park Residents Association, said: “This is a massive problem. Almost every weekend without fail it starts.

“Anglian Water can't understand why it is happening, and will look into it. We are looking to the council to take enforcement action now.”

Tim Passmore, leader of Mid Suffolk District Council, said: “It is unacceptable to have this stench pervading across Stowmarket. We need to know that this will be resolved.

“Cedars Park estate is affected the most and having that smell is much more unpleasant than a countryside smell, which you would expect from farmyard manure. This festers and stays there.

“Not all sewage works stink like this, why does this one smell more than others? It affects people's quality of life, especially if they want to sit outside, why should people put up with this?

“We are not prepared to just leave a public nuisance, they need to resolve this and resolve this quickly.

“We have big plans for Stowmarket, to regenerate the community. We are doing are best to attract people to the town and this does not help at all.”

A spokesman for Anglian Water said: “It is quite possible there is some background odour and a sewage smell, it is a site with sewage on it. Sewage treatment works do smell, they treat sewage.

“But there are no operation problems on site and we have had no recent contact with environmental health officers or recent customer complaints.

“We want to work with the community. There is a lot of muck spreading going on, a lot of harvesting, it could be that there is some confusion about the source of the odours.”