Anglian Water refutes 'horrified' Leighton Buzzard dog walker's claims that he spotted raw sewage in brook

David Groves visited Parson's Park on March 16 at 10am when he spotted what he believed to be human excrement in the water. Upset, the 52-year-old sent footage to the LBO and South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous.

And he claims he predicted the potential impact on the environment when the Conservative government allowed a law to enable Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO).

But Anglian Water sent a team to investigate and states no evidence was found of sewage pollution. The company says there was only evidence of a build-up of natural debris and foam.

Mr Groves claimed: “When the Tories allowed that law - of which Andrew Selous voted in favour - I wrote to him last year and was very clear that we would see this in Leighton Buzzard at some point. It makes me very angry. To see it on our doorstep is heartbreaking."

The government website states that overflows of diluted sewage during heavy rainfall are "not a sign that the system is faulty", and that CSOs are "a necessary part of the existing sewerage system", preventing sewage from flooding homes and businesses.

Mr Groves claimed: "Now water companies don't have to upgrade waterworks - they weren't previously allowed to do it [sewage overflow], and if they did, they were massively fined. The number of blue flag beaches are in decline, while Leighton Buzzard's own sewer works must be 30/40 years old?"

In a reply to Mr Groves, Mr Selous countered: “This government is the first government to set duties on water companies to monitor the sewage overflows. No previous government established these duties. Under this government monitoring has increased from 10 per cent in 2015 and will be 100 per cent by the end of this year. The reason there is more attention paid to this issue is because of the increased monitoring and in the past sewage overflows occurred, without people knowing about them.

"I have written to the Chief Executive of Anglian Water to ask what percentage of their event duration monitors are in place to support local accountability for sewage pollution in Leighton Buzzard.

"Our storm overflow investment plan will see £56 billion of capital investment to deal with this problem. Sewage is not the only issue we need to deal with, and you’ll be pleased to know that over the last 30 years, there’s been a 67 per cent reduction in phosphorus and a 79 per cent reduction in ammonia in waste water discharging into rivers."

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “Last week [week beginning March 13], our teams responded to reports of potential pollution in Clipstone Brook. Upon investigation, our teams found no evidence of sewage pollution. At the site, there was a build-up of natural debris and foam suspected to have been caused by the increase in surface water run off as a result of the heavy rainfall.

“As part of our Get River Positive commitment to transform river water quality, between 2020 and 2025 we’re reinvesting more than £200 million to reduce storm spills across the East of England. And we’re working towards eliminating all serious pollutions by 2025.”