Sewage causing a stink in a picturesque part of a village

Sewage, believed to be from a collapsed sewer, has seeped into the River Colne near Alderford Mill, on Alderford Street, Sible Hedingham.

Not only does it smell bad, but dog walkers using the footpath that follows alongside the river, have also reported seeing sanitary waste floating down the river.

A poster has now been tied to the railings of the bridge over the river, encouraging people to report the issue to the Environment Agency.

The poster reads: "This river is contaminated with raw sewage.

"Take a look - it's not nice.

"Check out the tampons and other sanitary products then please let the Environment Agency know what you think about having raw sewage running into your local river.

"The problem has existed for more than one year and the only thing they have done is pass the buck.

"The sewage is getting worse."

One man who lives nearby said a dog walker had seen 20 sanitary items in the river as he had walked past.

Sible Hedingham resident Sue Burgess, who noticed the sign, said the smell was “very bad”.

“It has been like this since Christmas,” she added.

“But it has got especially bad since the middle of last week.

“Someone mentioned the notice to us so we decided to take the dog down there for a walk to see it for ourselves.

“From the notice, it looks like someone has been reporting it for a while but not getting anywhere.

“They have even put another plastic folder next to the poster with lots of copies of the number for the Environment Agency for people to take away.”

Chairman of Sible Hedingham Parish Council, Ron Volkwyn, said: “We had about three people report it to us.

“It is not something we deal with, but our clerk reported it to the Environment Agency who said they were going to send a crew round.

“The footpath close by is popular with dog walkers.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We were contacted last March about this issue. We originally thought that the discharge was as a result of an Anglian Water overflow (which had been consented) from a sewer running under Alderford Street. However following further investigations, we have found that the sewage is coming from another source. The discharge is into the Mill Race, not directly into the River Colne.

“We carried out some initial site visits, together with partners, but have failed to find the source so far. No other reports of the issue were received until 2nd February this year.

“We are undertaking further investigations to locate the source. As the sewage discharge appears to be intermittent, it has been difficult to find out where it is coming from.

“At the end of this month, we will be revisiting the site to clear the blockage and try to find the source again.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “The pollution in the Colne is believed to be caused by private third party and the EA are investigating. While we do have a collapsed sewer in the nearby area we have ruled this out as a cause of the pollution.”