Action hope for sewage-hit village (From Gazette & Herald)

Action hope for sewage-hit village of Brawby

3:21pm Wednesday 16th January 2013 in News

A THIRD “Battle of Brawby” sewage-flooding meeting was being held last night (Tuesday) to update residents on the action being demanded from Yorkshire Water to sort out the sewers.

The village was cut off for five days at the end of November because of the amount of untreated sewage that was polluting water in the village street and watercourses.

An agenda and an executive summary put together by Glenn Garrett, chairman of Brawby Parish Meeting, has been sent to Richard Flint, Yorkshire Water’s boss.

Yorkshire Water has said it will spend £180 million between last year and 2015 on its entire sewer system.

“Let’s hope we get some,” said Mr Garrett.

Steve Richmond, health and environment manager at Ryedale District Council, was due to be at the meeting and Mr Garrett said he had asked representatives from Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to attend as they did at previous meetings.

His summary goes back to April 1999, when issues were first noticed with sewers and drains backing up to houses due to limitations in the design of the “antiquated” combined sewer and drain system.

His summary states that between then and last year, “Brawby’s water-related problems have become a regular and much-hated occurrence”.

Various actions have been taken including jetting the drains, clearing the gullies, de-silting and attempts to trace suspected blockages and repairs to the waste water treatment works pumps.

One householder has reported 20 separate incidents since 2004, although records show the number could be double that.

A temporary multi-agency pump was installed to clear polluted water but a further two pumps were later installed and last week a pump was still in place.

Last month, two public meetings were held to bring home the problems and concerns of residents to representatives of the various agencies.

Residents feel that the village has “dropped off” Yorkshire Water’s radar in terms of maintenance.

Dr Helen Phillips, director of customer service and networks at Yorkshire Water, said in a letter to Mr Garrett: “I would assure you of our commitment to working with you to see how best we can resolve the flooding you have been experiencing.”