"UNACCEPTABLE" sewage infrastructure has been making villagers’ lives a misery with constant flooding, according to North Essex MP Sir Bernard Jenkin.
At a public meeting held at Langham Community Centre, Anglian Water representatives were grilled by members of the public and Sir Bernard.
One Langham resident, Jenna Hayward, told Anglian Water representatives the drainage system has been failing to cope with rainfall for several years, with water leaking into what is known as the foul system.
The result has been serious flooding multiple times a year, she said.
She said: “The whole of the village here now are fed up of hearing, ‘oh, we’re going to investigate, we’re going to commit to an upgrade’ – it needs to happen.”
An Anglian Water representative, who was one of six to face Langham residents at the meeting, said: “When it doesn’t rain, the system actually operates as it should.”
The water firm also committed to spending £6million to improve the system, but one resident described the investment as “peanuts”.
She said: “To us, £6million to improve the system is peanuts – it’s the drop in value of our houses now they’ve got a history of flooding.
“It’s the emotional stress of finding insurance.
“It’s the stress of looking out the window and wondering whether your back lawn is flooded.”
At the end of the meeting, Sir Bernard pledged to write a letter to the Anglian Water chief executive, Peter Simpson, adding the firm is “not treating this as an emergency as it is”.
He said: "I can understand why the people of Langham's patience is running out, and I understand why people in this room don’t think this is being tackled with enough urgency –you’re not treating this as an emergency as it is.
“I’m going to follow up with writing a letter to your chief executive emphasising this is becoming a desperate situation, and everything has got to be done to try and accelerate amelioration on the problem – it really is completely unacceptable."
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