Villagers unimpressed despite crunch sewage meeting

About 200 people attended the meeting in Hickling

Villagers who have been affected by rising sewage said they were "disappointed" after meeting with the local water company.

People in Hickling, Norfolk, have complained of untreated effluent rising into their gardens, toilets and sinks.

Anglian Water, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Internal Drainage Board attended the meeting and committed to carrying out a review of the issue.

Steve Adkins, whose home has been affected, said: "All I can see is deflection and budget constraints."

The meeting, hosted by Conservative MP Duncan Baker, was attended by about 200 local residents.

A further 250 people joined online.

Testimonies were given from people including Dee Wells, 73, who had been forced to use public toilets and a portable loo after her own bathroom was rendered unusable.

Dee and Bill Wells had been using the public toilet until a hire contractor donated a portable unit to their home

The companies pledged to work more closely together to find a solution.

Anglian Water said it was "confident that their sewerage systems were working as they should", and that the issue in Hickling stemmed from too much surface water getting into the pipes.

The EA said heavy rain since July meant river levels had remained consistently high, and that it would take a "long time" to return to normal.

David Belsten said he was "disappointed" at the lack of solutions shared

Parish councillor David Belsten said: “The idea was to give short, medium and long term solutions, but I heard very little in the way of solutions.

“There was a lot of ‘we have to do a model on this, we're looking at that’. I was quite disappointed.”

He said the suggestion of a review was “positive” but added: “Here we are after a major flooding event, still hearing the same. I was hoping for a lot more."

Steve and Sue Adkins's garden was flooded with raw sewage in October 2023

Mr Adkins said the village had been given a "specific contact" at Anglian Water, which was "a start".

He believed although “there’s some action” happening, regular meetings and “a more joined-up approach” was needed between agencies.

“There's got to be a follow up, there’s got to be action, these guys need to work together. I don’t quite see it," he added.