Hot weather and rain blamed for foul smell in Dovercourt

Concerned residents took to Facebook to complain about the smell, which started last weekend and has travelled as far as Main Road.

Dave Rutson, of Highfield Avenue, said the smell stunk out his home on Monday morning.

He said: “I read something about it from my friend who lives in Gordon Road and walks his dog every morning.

“He said about a stench and then said they were taking algae out of the boating lake two or three days ago.

“But then you could smell this terrible smell like sewage - everyone was complaining about it.

“The whole house stunk in the morning on Monday.”

Mr Rutson said he tried to call Tendring Council but couldn’t get through to anyone to report the issue or find out what was causing it.

He added: “It was a terrible smell and I couldn’t get through to speak to anyone, that’s not really good enough.”

Residents have said they can also smell the stench in Fronks Road, Lime Avenue and Wick Lane.

Others said they have seen dead eels and fish floating in the boating lake at the weekend.

Lisa-Jane Catchpool, of Ramsey, said: “It was really strong on Sunday when we where at the skating rink family day, dead eels floating in it. It was just awful.”

Councillor Michael Talbot, Tendring Council’s environment and public spaces boss, said work is being carried out to find the cause of the problem.

He said: “We are investigating residents’ concerns of the recent smell of the water at the boating lake at Dovercourt.

“The pond is filled by sea water and run off from the highway.

“We believe that recent spells of heavy rainfall along with exceptionally hot and sunny weather has caused the water temperature of the lake to rise, this in turn has caused the water to become deoxygenated and any plant life in the form of algae to start to decay, causing the smell.

“We are currently arranging with our contractors, who carry out maintenance on behalf of the council, to attend the lake for water testing to take place to confirm this.”