Kelmscott: 'Sewage is a real issue' (From Witney Gazette)

Kelmscott: 'Sewage is a real issue'

2:25pm Tuesday 22nd January 2008 in Witney By David Horne

RAW sewage was floating last week in the streets of Kelmscott, where homes were flooded last week.

The health and safety issue has surfaced, because there is no mains drainage in the Thames-side village.

Charlie Lockhart, whose home Coles Barn was being renovated after the July floods, but was again six inches under water, said: "We all have septic tanks. Sewage is a real issue, it is floating up out of the tanks into the streets and our homes.

"In July, it took a month before the smell disappeared. Health and safety is a real concern."

Chris Stevens, of Memorial Cottages, said last week: "The water level goes above the tanks, and the effluent comes up out into the village. No one seems to know what to do. There are faeces floating around."

Phil Page, head of the council's street scene, said: "There are obviously some health risks when raw sewage comes out of the tanks, including water-borne diseases.

"The issue is a serious one for Kelmscott, and we will be putting more weight to it by asking Thames Water to bring it higher up on their priority list for mains drainage schemes.".

About 5,500 sandbags have been dished out by the district council to key areas, including Kelmscott, as well as Ascott-under-Wychwood, where the River Evenlode burst its banks, threatening homes.

Water was lapping at the doors of Phil Benson's isolated rural home, Barley Cottage, near Thrupp, between Clanfield and Faringdon.

He is three fields away from the Thames, but said it is not just the river causing the problem, but ditches which have not yet been cleared since last July's flooding.

"It is ridiculous. I was flooded in July, and have just finished renovating, and here it is again. What have they been doing these last six months?"

Witney MP and Conservative Party leader David Cameron donned his Wellington boots on Friday afternoon, and saw for himself the anxieties of his constituents.

He told the Witney Gazette "Flooding is now the number one issue in my area.

"It is clear that the ditches, culverts, streams, and the dredging of rivers has to be done more quickly.

"Our district council has just produced a very good report on the flooding in July, and the issues are there. Here we are again and the need for action is urgent."

In July, Mr Cameron was criticised by some national media for going out of the country - to a prearranged visit to Rwanda in Africa - while hundreds of families and businesses in his backyard were being evacuated because of the floods.

Last week, he listened to concerns from villagers, who complained of being overlooked, with the bulk of flood defence concentrated on Oxford.

Mr Cameron is to meet soon with Sir Michael Pitt who was asked by the Government in August last year to conduct an independent review of the flooding emergency last summer.

He said he will be telling Sir Michael of what happened in his own constituency an the lessons that have been learned.

Mr Cameron said: "Whatever way you look at it, we are going to be left with a large amount of capital expenditure to get the essential work done, including the clearance of water courses.

"We are going to have to say to the Government these things have to be done now and the money is needed.

"The fact is that, though small councils like West Oxfordshire have done a very good job co-ordinating flooding emergency operations, including getting the voluntary sector and RAF Brize Norton involved, they have limited funds to deal with preventative work.

"The problem is that, on a cost benefit analysis, money is going to the larger towns, where there are more homes to protect, than out in isolated communities.

"I can understand where the people of Kelmscott are coming from.

"They may see that hardly any attention or money is given to their problems because everything is concentrated in the larger communities."