FRUSTRATED councillors from a South Lakeland village have kicked up a stink about raw sewage on their streets, declaring they will not support new developments until the issue is resolved.

Staveley with Ings Parish Council has declared a moratorium on village development that threatens to worsen the ‘unacceptable’ discharge of raw sewage on to its streets.

The council has said the effect of more frequent extreme weather and a growing village has seen a significant increase in incidents of sewage ‘erupting’ from manholes at several sites and have urged United Utilities to act.

United Utilities said it has been liaising with residents to discuss the problem, but currently has ‘no major investment planned’ in the village.

Chair of the parish council Mark Kidd and vice chair Anne Salisbury said: “We are not against development as such.

“The village has benefitted from this over the years but we are no longer prepared to have sewage on our streets during heavy rain.”

The unanimous decision follows a detailed report from the Council’s Flood and Sewage Task Group setting out the causes of the problem.

Flood and Sewage Task Group lead, Councillor Arthur Capstick said: “We live in a National Park and a World Heritage Site. It is the 21st century. How can it be at all acceptable that we have raw sewage on our streets?

“Meanwhile, United Utilities pays out millions in dividends year after year. It is high time they delivered for their customers.”

Cllr Capstick added that the village’s combined surface water and sewage system has reached its capacity.

“This matter has been illustrated beyond doubt to the Parish Council, causing them to take the bold step of pausing their support of any further development in the parish,” he said.

“Without proper investment to upgrade our sewage systems, we can’t properly protect the community or permit development of additional homes for local people. Our protected waterscape is being threatened and the chances of homes being flooded in the future is being increased.”

Isobel Stoddart, chair of the Sustainability and Energy Network in Staveley added: “An ‘emergency’ discharge of untreated effluent has occurred 1,000 times in the last three-year period directly into the river Kent – that is an average of nearly once a day.”

A United Utilities spokesman said: “We understand how unpleasant sewer flooding is and we investigate every incident that’s reported, complete a clean-up and ensure it is recorded on our systems.

“Our investment programme tackles the most serious issues first. While we currently have no major investment planned at Staveley, the prioritisation of this programme is constantly under review, so it is important that all flooding incidents are reported to us on every occasion.

“We are considering including Staveley in a pilot scheme trialling the use of sensors to manage sewer flows more proactively.

“United Utilities works within strict permit conditions and we do not discharge untreated effluent in dry weather.

“During bad weather, we are permitted by the Environment Agency to spill treated and untreated effluent as long as certain conditions are met.”