HEADLINE

CORNWALL:

SUMMARY

The ongoing issue of sewage – including human faeces, toilet paper, sanitary products and hypodermic syringes – flowing out of manhole covers in the Cornish village of Stithians has started to turn residents into “shells of people”.

That’s what one villager told a Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit at Lys Kernow (County Hall) in Truro last week.

Since the start of the year and a series of storms, Stithians has been plagued by raw sewage, with parents having to dodge what has been described as “lakes of poo” as they take their children to school.

There was a further incident at the weekend and the situation is now impacting locals’ mental and physical health.

Andy Snapes lives in Stithians and represented Cornwall Chamber of Commerce at last Friday’s summit.

He told the panel, which included representatives from South West Water (SWW), the Environment Agency, Surfers Against Sewage and Cornwall Council: “The situation in Stithians has been frankly horrendous over the last two to three months.

“We had sewage of the worst kind – excrement, toilet paper, sanitary products, hypodermic syringes – in the streets where children walk to our local junior school.”

He said it was also running into people’s homes. “I’ve met two ladies who frankly were shells of people – dark-eyed, faces gaunt – because they have this literally flowing into their front and back doors. It is absolutely horrendous and it’s not a recent situation. It’s something that has been ongoing for the past dozen years at least.”

Mr Snapes added: “Again, this morning, there was sewage coming out of those manholes. It is starting to affect people’s wellbeing, mental health and physical health – you’ve got people being sick. It’s not a situation that is getting better.”

Carolyn Cadman, chief sustainability and natural resources officer at South West Water, responded: “I want to apologise to the residents of Stithians for what’s happened.”

She said improvements, which were scheduled for later this year in Stithians, have been brought forward.

“The engineers have been out and are looking at the design that’s needed to address the problem.” She added that she wanted to reiterate that the problem was being dealt with.

Mark Rice, area director for Devon and Cornwall at the Environment Agency, addressed the summit, saying: “The environmental impact in Stithians, whilst it’s clearly having an impact on the community and public health, was relatively limited. We have intervened – we are working with South West Water, we called a meeting with the minister, who got involved, and the MP.”

“It illustrates a broader point that the South West network is vulnerable to climate change, ingress from water – from groundwater particularly at the moment – and the impact of not proactively managing this means there are more communities who are likely to face this kind of issue without that proactive approach to maintenance that we expect from the company,” added Mr Rice, turning in the direction of the representative from SWW.

Two days after the meeting, Mr Snapes commented on social media: “The foul manhole at the Foundry, Stithians, was overflowing again last night, threatening people’s homes with being flooded with untreated sewage once more.

“So much for South West Water’s public apology to the village at Cornwall Council’s Healthy Rivers and Seas Summit.

“Talk is cheap, but this remains a #DirtyBusiness where #pollutingforprofit is the motive – we need Cornwall Council to act and serve the abatement notice that it is obliged by law to issue against SWW. When is that going to happen?

“People’s homes are being devalued, their health and mental wellbeing is being compromised, when will South West Water compensate those affected by their negligence?”

We asked Cornwall Council if it was going to issue an abatement notice against the water company. A spokesperson said: “Having visited the village to investigate the issues, Cornwall Council does not believe it constitutes a statutory nuisance and therefore it is not necessary or appropriate to serve an abatement notice.

“However, the council is aware of the impact of the issues on residents and has written to South West Water to ascertain their plans for mitigating the problems in the short and longer term.  The council believes the actions they have outlined are appropriate and proportionate given the circumstances and will hopefully resolve this matter at the earliest possible time.

“We will continue to monitor the situation until the issues are fully resolved.”

A spokesperson for South West Water told us: “We thank local residents for their continued patience as we work to deliver long-term improvements to the wastewater network in Stithians.

“On Hendra Road, ongoing work includes replacing around 125 metres of sewer with larger pipes, improving lining and manhole sealing, investigating surface water infiltration and completing targeted CCTV surveys to identify any further repairs.

“We are also gathering detailed engineering information to shape plans for the Foundry Road area.

“Residents are being invited to a community drop‑in later this month to meet our teams and discuss the planned work.”