Sewage floods St Ives playing field for third time since October

Sewage has flooded across part of an estate's playing field for the third time since October, a resident said.

The human waste escaped from a drain in the field, which is next to Wheatfield Primary School in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, on Friday.

Resident Jonathan Pallant said: "This is where my child walks to school every day... it is not a puddle you want your kids to jump in."

Anglian Water said it was working on making the situation better.

The Environment Agency has been contacted for comment.

Mr Pallant, a former town mayor, said: "Three times in three months is starting to get a bit much, especially as it happened again before they could clear up the last lot."

Anglian Water has cordoned off the area at Wheatfield playing field, as reported by Cambridgeshire Live.

Sewage first leaked on to the field during an October storm, followed by another incident after Storm Henk in early January.

Mr Pallant said while the drain had flooded before, it was less than once a year.

Mathew Setchell, chairman of the St Ives Flood Action Group, said it was liaising with Anglian Water and the Environment Agency about the issue.

He said the drain was put in when the estate was built in the 1970s and goes under the playing field to meet a second drain.

"Where those two points meet now regularly floods and two businesses are at risk of flooding," he said.

He suspects the playing field sewage leaks are part of a bigger issue.

Mr Setchell said: "It will be a problem for a considerable time, because Anglian Water needs to do a survey... to be fair to Anglian Water, it can't happen until the spring as [the drains] are so full of water."

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said: "The problems we're seeing in Wheatfield Park are being caused by the extreme weather we've had this autumn and winter.

"Our sewers in St Ives are only designed to take away sewage, but this rainwater can infiltrate into the sewer network and ultimately overload the system.

"We're continuing to work with the local flood group to help manage the situation, and we are currently looking to acquire funding for some survey work to find which points in the network rain is getting in.

"In the interim, we've been out today and carried out a full clean up of Wheatfield Park."

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