An award-winning, picturesque village has pulled out of a contest after uncooked sewage was dumped into the river for months, inflicting a vile scent and the closure of a youngsters’s playground.
Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, nestled on the sting of the Chiltern Hills, has received the county’s ‘Greatest Saved Village’ contest six instances since 2002.
However final week it was compelled to withdraw its software for this yr’s contest after Thames Water admitted it has been releasing sewage into the River Misbourne since January.
Villagers have been complaining for months a couple of foul scent and after studying of the discharges, closed a youngsters’s playground, river stroll and duck pond.
Villagers of Chalfont St Giles pose on a inexperienced with a pond seen within the background. The village needed to pull out of the Greatest Saved Village contest this yr
A youngsters’s playpark was additionally closed after Thames Water launched diluted sewage into the river
Chalfont St Giles was the winner of the ‘Greatest Saved Village’ award in 2023 and hoped to scoop an additional award during which earlier winners can compete towards one another.
Robert Gill, from the parish council, stated: ‘The cup means the place in the event you win a number of years on the trot, you are within the working for getting the most effective village for a number of years.
‘This has eliminated any probability of getting that.
‘Our village present has needed to be cancelled. It’s fairly a serious subject for us as we have misplaced a lot of our summer time festivities to this.
‘The best way the best-kept village is marked, they take a look at playgrounds, open areas, locations the place individuals are likely to congregate and benefit from the village.
‘We have instructed individuals you should not be close to these areas in the intervening time, particularly the youngsters’s play space. It could be a waste of time for individuals coming to see us.’
The extent of the flooding from the river which was filled with diluted sewage in Chalfont St Giles in February 2024
Polluted waterway in Chalfont St Giles. Locals complained of a vile odour for a number of months
Mr Gill, who has lived within the village for 20 years, stated he was ‘completely appalled’ by the sewage working via Chalfont St Giles and that the village had been ‘sacrificed’.
He added: ‘We’re all gutted. We’re parishioners ourselves and it took numerous time for us to debate this.
‘It is very important villagers to that we enter these competitions however we had been left with no alternative.
‘Chalfont St Giles is a quintessential and exquisite village. It’s a pretty place to dwell with our river working via.
‘It has been ruined by the actions of Thames Water. They sacrificed us to take care of different issues.
‘It’s dangerous sufficient that this has occurred and we do not need it to occur once more.’
Mr Gill stated villages grew to become conscious of sewage smells in June of final yr and the parish council had been initially instructed it might be the drains.
Nevertheless, in January of this yr, they discovered that the Amersham Street Balancing Tank was overflowing and pumping diluted sewage into the River Misbourne.
The river flows via the village and Mr Gill stated a specialist workforce despatched out by Thames Water discovered that ranges of contamination had been excessive.
Mr Gill continued: ‘The parish council had a letter in February from the Environmental Company informing them there had been an incident and the sewers has flooded.
Thames Water discharged into the River Misbourne, a valuable chalk stream, on the Amersham Balancing Tanks
One other image of polluted water within the picturesque village in Buckinghamshire. A number of areas together with a river stroll had been closed consequently
‘From our understanding, Thames Water diverted sewage from the sewers and into our river.
‘The best way it was worded, it appeared like a single incident however this has been occurring for months.
‘They have been utilizing the river to maintain the stress down.’
Mr Gill stated the letter stated that Thames Water had taken motion to scale back the quantity of sewage coming into the sewer community which resulted in sewage flowing into the river since January 3.
The parish council are investigating how the diluted sewage was left pumping into their river for thus lengthy and what they will do to cease it from taking place once more, Mr Gill stated.
He added: ‘We have by no means had sewage earlier than. Typically it floods as we’re on a flood plain, however now we have sewage seeping into the fields from the flooding.
‘It has been an terrible time period for us and we’re searching for to search out out why it occurred and what adjustments will likely be made going ahead.’
A Thames Water spokesperson stated: ‘Our area has skilled the eighth wettest winter on file, leading to exceptionally excessive groundwater and river ranges. This groundwater and river floodwater then entered our sewers and crammed the Amersham storm tanks, which means they’re full and are discharging diluted wastewater into the river Misbourne, for which we’re sorry.
Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, (pictured), has received the county’s ‘Greatest Saved Village’ contest six instances since 2002
Excessive water ranges on the ford in Mill Lane, Chalfont St Giles on February 16, 2024
‘We have put transparency on the coronary heart of what we do, and we had been the primary water firm to publish an actual time information map. Our monitor at our Amersham Storm Tanks web site is now publishing this information for the general public to see and whereas all discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was traditionally designed to work on this approach, to stop sewage backing up into individuals’s properties.
‘We all know how a lot rivers are beloved and loved by everybody, and we’re dedicated to seeing our waterways thrive. Our engineers are utilizing filter items on the storm tanks and are working laborious to minimise the affect to the river.
‘We’ve revealed plans to improve 250 of our websites throughout the area, as we try to extend remedy capability and cut back the variety of needed discharges. Nevertheless, extra funding is required throughout your entire sector, as infrastructure ages and demand on it will increase. That is why we have requested for elevated funding within the subsequent regulatory cycle between 2025-2030.’
Chalfont St Giles is talked about within the Domesday E book of 1086 was dwelling to poet John Milton when he accomplished Paradise Misplaced.
It was additionally used a movie set for the 1971 movie Dads’ Military the place it represented Walmington-on-Sea.
A bunch of celebrities have beforehand lived within the village together with Ozzy Osbourne and Noel Gallagher.
The Greatest Saved Village contest is organised by the Marketing campaign for Rural England.
