Locals in a popular UK village are waging war against a council after years of battling poo and tampons in their park. Residents in Bournville claim they’ve been forced to wade through overflowing sewage in the much-loved neighbourhood spot for several years now, following downpours.
They blame water company Severn Trent for not doing enough to solve this issue which they say has persisted for four long years.
A recent row erupted on January 2, following a deluge of rain during Storm Henk, BirminghamLive reports.
People saw disgusting waste flooding public paths during their walk. Many insist that it’s not a new problem, and instead can be traced back as far as 2020.
Park volunteers, nearby inhabitants and a local councillor have all tried to pressure Severn Trent for a fix to stop the recurring mess. Unfortunately, they claim no lasting solution has been found years later.
A local resident, Magdalen Gorringe, 50, said: “Four years is too long for a community to walk through s*** every time it rains. My correspondence with Severn Trent goes back to March 2020, I said this is an ongoing issue and we need a permanent solution.”
“They said they would look but nothing has been done and it’s four years down the line. This is a highly frequented park which is at the centre of a primary school, play park, tennis courts, community centre and a lot of dog walkers.
“When the sewage leaks a lot of people don’t notice so they will walk through poo and loo roll and track that into their homes or school. It is a significant health hazard and I find it really disappointing that there is still a park flooded with poo.
“It severely impacts the community of a much loved park.
“I want them (Severn Trent) to take the health risks and quality of life seriously.” Joan Hosfield, 76, Chair and Trustee of The Friends of Bournville Park, voiced her displeasure at the state of the park: “We have seen faeces, toilet paper and other things you would flush down the toilet.”
“They spread out over the paths and anyone walking over the bridge has to walk through it. The action is inadequate.”
The residents report that safety barriers were put up around the burst pipe by the water company Severn Trent. Today, the company’s team is on site carrying out a major cleaning operation to make the park usable again.
They claim that the leak happened because unusually heavy rain in a short time caused too much strain on their system.
“The park is well used by a range of people including shoppers who have to go through the park, school children who have weekly forest school sessions and dog walkers. There is a lack of major improvement work and our neighbours are not happy.
“The first recorded incident was in 2019 and we reported it to Severn Trent. Work was planned but didn’t happen until April 2020, there was a dreadful smell and water leaks.
“There was another incident on October 20 2023, then December 5 and now January 2 2024. It tends to happen when there is heavy rain so there were less during the pandemic.
“With climate change these heavy rains will only get worse in future. I do know these sewers are over 100 years old. It makes me concerned for the health of park users and we want it sorted as soon as possible.”
Cllr Fred Grindrod, Labour representative for Bournville and Cotteridge, echoed residents stating he has ‘yet to see significant action over this’. He said: “One of the best parks in Birmingham is seriously undermined by this.
“This has happened several times over the last few months and we are very concerned.”
A spokesperson for Severn Trent stated: “We’re very sorry to see the flooding issues in Bournville Park as we know how distressing any kind of flooding can be and that this is a well-used park by the local community. Our teams attended as quickly as possible and confirmed the issue was caused by the torrential rain from Storm Henk, where Birmingham was one of the most impacted areas.
“The flooding was caused by the sheer volume of rain falling in a short amount of time overloading the network. We remain at the site today and will carry out a thorough clean up once the flood water has subsided and will make sure the area is fully returned to normal.
“We also plan to investigate this incident and will continue to explore ways to alleviate flooding issues in the park during exceptionally high rainfall.”
This article was crafted with the help of AI tools, which speed up the Daily Express editorial research. A Daily Express editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors here.
