A row has broken out over claims a water company allowed an ‘open sewer’ to ruin a field earmarked for a new community woodland. Local councillors had intended to create a new green space in Romiley, Stockport, improving the environment and providing new wildlife habitats.
But they say sewage damage has stopped plans to plant new woodland near Otterspool Road ‘in their tracks’, after surveys showed the soil could now be too toxic for trees. Coun Lisa Smart, who chairs the Werneth area committee, is calling on water firm United Utilities to apologise for the ‘destruction’ that has been caused.
However the company says flooding from a pipe into a manhole - following heavy rain - only affected a small area of the field. It has now carried out repair work at the site. Bosses insist claims that this had ruined the field were ‘false’ and the need for a ‘buffer zone’ around the sewer pipe and naturally ‘boggy’ nature of the land would have also placed constraints on tree planting.
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