Somerset villagers 'adopting' drains to stop sewage from flooding their homes

ITV News' Ben McGrail spoke to people in Mudford about their concerns for the future

People living in a Somerset village say they fear sewage could flood their homes this winter if they experience more heavy rain.

The residents of Mudford, near Yeovil, have started clearing drains to try to protect themselves.

Earlier this week, Storm Bert led to the River Yeo bursting its banks, threatening nearby houses. Villagers now say the local sewage pumping station overflowed for hours into the floodwater.

Mudford has a long history of flooding and residents say incidents are becoming more frequent.

Sally Liddon lives on a road that saw around 6ft of flooding during and after the storm.

Sand bags prevented the water entering her home, but she said: "We've been here four years and I should think it's done it seven times this year.

"The gentleman who lives behind us - he's been here 20 years. He said it's no worse but it's definitely more frequent."

Kay Mackenzie is chair of the newly formed Three Villages Flood Group, which aims to provide a voice for the community on flooding matters.

She says they recorded nearly 30 hours of storm overflow from the sewage pumping station in the village on Wessex Water's website and there is real concern about the amount of sewage in the floodwater.

She said: "If people actually get flooded in their homes - they're pretty near here - what goes into people's homes? E. coli? So our concern is that it's a massive public health issue."

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “There are no operational faults with our sewage pumping station – the flooding experienced during Storm Bert and on previous occasions was caused by rainwater inundating drainage systems.

“We have one licensed storm overflow at Mudford which operated as designed, discharging mostly rainwater when sewers became overwhelmed to prevent sewage backing up inside people’s homes.”

Footage of flooding in Mudford, Somerset, on 25 November 2024

Stephen Bartlett is a local farmer whose family have farmed around Mudford for generations.

He says he knows the drains in the parish so well that he's begun clearing them himself to try to stave off floodwater from people's homes.

He said: "The flood across the A359 in Mudford was up for 24 hours. We had one car stuck in it yesterday early morning but I went down, knew which drains would be the problem, cleared them with a rake and within two hours the floodwater had gone and the A359 had opened again."

Villagers plan to "adopt" drains so that more people can clear them during heavy rain.

Another long-term concern for many residents of Mudford is a housing development which was recently approved up the hill from the village.

Dawn Woodward is a flood warden and said: "The floodwater from that development is going to run down the hill here into Mudford.

"We feel like we're under siege - we are the people at the bottom of the hill, nobody seems to be thinking about how this is going to impact on our lives and it's about time that somebody did."

Somerset Council said, in a statement: "The planning application to approve outline permission for development of a Sustainable Urban Extension to comprise up to 765 dwellings on land at Upper Mudford, Yeovil, Somerset was approved in October subject to completion of a Section 106 Planning Agreement and planning conditions which include foul sewerage infrastructure, surface water drainage, surface water drainage management and maintenance, and a construction drainage plan.

"The report to committee addressed concerns over flood management and drainage with agreements made that no development shall take place until details of a strategy for sustainable surface water and ground water drainage, and mechanisms for ongoing maintenance and management have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority; and that no development in any phase shall commence until works for the disposal of foul sewage from that phase or any part thereof, have been provided.

"Wessex Water and the developer understand that extra sewage capacity will need to be agreed and designed before development starts on site and that this can be achieved at the reserved matters stage."