Thames Water ordered to act over Leigh gardens sewage
Residents in Leigh have said they have endured years of raw sewage bubbling up through manhole covers
People whose lives have been made “awful” due to sewage flowing into their gardens are holding their breaths for a different reason after the Environment Agency ordered Thames Water to “investigate and take necessary action”.
Residents in Leigh have said they have endured years of raw sewage bubbling up through manhole covers following a heavy downpour because the old pumping station is easily overwhelmed.
They have resorted to using sandbags but that only delays the problems as the sewage simply pools before leaking and spreading onto the land.
Now though, after years of trying, there could be a glimmer of hope as the Environment Agency has stepped told Thames Water to clean up its act.
Brian Boustred has lived in the village for nearly half a century and hopes this could be the beginning of the end of the problem.
He said: “Normal everyday life is made awful, it’s just a pain in the neck because every time it rains heavily it floods, and it just comes as a grey sort of sludge, you’ve just got to put up with it because they don’t do anything.
“Thames Water have been doing nothing, literally nothing.
“We’ve been here 40 years, we came in ’84 and they’ve done nothing apart from come and photograph the inside of the sewer.
“I think they’ve got more pictures than the National Gallery.
“We have a manhole just outside our place and one in the gardens.
“And when the waters surges, it lifts the lid of the manhole and flows out.
“All through the summer it smells.
“We have a bank of bags of sand around the manhole covers in the road but that doesn’t really do anything, it forms a swimming pool of sewage at first but it doesn’t contain it as it’s just sand.”
The Environment Agency took action after Dorking and Horley MP Chris Coghlan contacted the quango.
The issue was brought to the MP’s attention by Leigh parish councillors who were fed up with the lack of action to stop the pumping station near Brook Lane overloading with sewage “pretty much every time it rains”.
Councillor Mike Everitt told the MP: “Every time we’ve had meetings with Thames Water, they have come out, they have given us lip service.
“They’ve told us that the pumping station needs upgrading to handle the amount of water coming through but there is no money so there is nothing they can really do and then walked off and left us to it.”
Mr Coghlan added: “I’m very frustrated that this has been ignored for years by Thames Water, it’s really impacting the quality of life of my constituents.”
Sally Harvey, Environment Agency area manager for Surrey said she was “sorry to read of the understandable concerns of the community and the impact from the overflows from the Leigh pumping station during periods of heavy rainfall” and called the situation “not acceptable” in a letter to Mr Coghlan.
She added: “Following several reports to us we have called for Thames Water to commence an investigation to identify a cause for spills and put remedial action in place.
“We are waiting for the outcome of their investigation and will share the outcome of this with you as well as ensure that action is taken.”
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We have instructed Thames Water to investigate and take necessary action regarding the amount of sewage discharges from its pumping station at Leigh during heavy rainfall.
“Once that investigation is complete later this year, our specialist officers will consider if further action is appropriate.
“Anyone who suspects pollution can call our 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 807060.”
Thames Water has been contacted for comment.