IT'S back! Yes, Felixstowe's very own nasty niff is pervading the air again – and is worse than ever.Now town councillors fear the pungent pong is sending tourists packing, as well as driving mad residents who have to live with it all the time.

IT'S back! Yes, Felixstowe's very own nasty niff is pervading the air again – and is worse than ever.

Now town councillors fear the pungent pong is sending tourists packing, as well as driving mad residents who have to live with it all the time.

"I thought it was bad last year, but this year it's been worse than ever – at times, it's so strong you could cut it with a knife," said councillor Ann Rodwell.

"It's been floating right the way along the seafront, down Langer Road, at Bent Hill, and over the whole town and even as far as Trimley."

Many residents have noticed the sewage smell over the past few months, even though it was said to have been cured.

Anglian Water has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on odour control systems and new equipment installed in summer 2003.

Mrs Rodwell said: "It's a really abominable smell and it's chasing our tourists away.

"We are trying to encourage tourism and then we have this terrible smell on the seafront – if I was a tourist staying here this summer I would say thank you very much and go elsewhere next time.

"Something needs to be done about it for the residents, too, because they have to put up with it all year round."

Former mayor Malcolm Minns was "very disappointed" because a great deal of time and money had been spent on the problem and he thought it was resolved.

Councillor Doreen Savage, who was involved in the campaign for a solution, said the smell could be occurring when slurry is emptied from the storage tanks into lorries to be removed from the sewerage works in Walton Avenue.

The town council's general purposes committee agreed to write to Suffolk Coastal's environmental health department about the problem and to Anglian Water to raise concerns and ask for an investigation.

Officers at Suffolk Coastal and AW analysts worked for four years to stop the sewage stink, which started wafting over the town after the completion of the £15 million Clearwater scheme to build the new sewerage works to stop raw sewage being pumped out to sea and washing back onto holiday beaches.

Residents complain the stench has been so strong they cannot have windows open in hot weather when the problem is at its worst and the smell gets into clothing and furniture and cannot be shifted.

AW installed a £100,000 bio scrubber at the plant which released bacteria into the sewage to destroy the smells but this failed.

Last year a new odour control system was put in place and it was thought to have been working successfully.

Has Felixstowe's nasty niff been driving your nose nuts? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk