Residents kick up a stink in Salford Priors sewers
Shocked villagers in Salford Priors are angry after Severn Trent Water quoted households thousands of pounds to connect them to the mains sewer network.
Around 60 homes in the parish have never been connected to the mains sewer network, relying on septic tanks for years.
Earlier this year Severn Trent were granted permission for a scheme to connect these homes to the main network, securing funding to proceed with the project.
During initial consultations, residents claim they were assured by the water company that the cost to connect them would be minimal, though initial quotes from Severn Trent have left them shocked.
According to the parish council the quotes have ranged from £3,000 to £12,000.
Karen Littleford, Chair of Salford Priors Parish Council, said: “The houses affected have never been connected to the sewer network and a lot of them have had problems over the years with their tanks. The parish council has been working with Severn Trent for six or seven years to try and get something done for these resident and earlier this year they successfully applied for permission to connect these homes.
“When Severn Trent first started talking to residents about the scheme to see if enough people wanted to be connected, residents were told that the cost to them would be minimal.
“However recently residents have been receiving quotes for between £3,000 and £12,000.
“A lot of the residents in these homes are elderly and most of them are saying it’s not worth doing it. They are very disappointed and shocked about the cost.
“As a parish council we are also very disappointed, we have fought hard for these residents to try and get this sorted and we also believed that this scheme could be done avoiding huge costs for residents.
“Our fear is that if not enough residents take Severn Trent up on being connected then the scheme will be scrapped. That is the last thing we want, we just want it to be cheaper.”
A spokesperson for Severn Trent Water said: “Severn Trent is committed to providing its customers with the best possible service and have invested £3.2 million pounds to offer property drainage connections to a new, public sewer.
“In this case, we’re providing the public connection to the edge of the customers’ properties free of charge, have surveyed our customers’ homes free of charge, have helped customers with the design of their private drainage system free of charge, provided a free quotation from our contractor and, for customers who agree to connect, we both waive the £300 connection charge and provide the first six months of sewerage services free of charge.
“In terms of customers’ private drainage, which are the systems on their properties, we inform them at an early stage that quotations from our principle contractors will be uncompetitive and advise them to approach local contractors and builders, who can usually provide the service at a fraction of the cost. We’d urge any customers who have yet to do this, to look for alternative quotes."
