AFTER the Nacton Niff and the Woolpit Whiff, residents of another Suffolk community are up in arms about the atmosphere near their homes after the Stowmarket Stench struck.

AFTER the Nacton Niff and the Woolpit Whiff, residents of another Suffolk community are up in arms about the atmosphere near their homes after the Stowmarket Stench struck.

Home-owners and senior councillors believe the smell over the upmarket Cedars Park estate, which has undergone massive development with 1,000 homes already built and 800 more planned, is coming from Anglian Water's nearby sewage treatment works.

There are now calls for the company to face enforcement action from Mid Suffolk Council.

But the firm said that while there are some smells from their site, it is what you would expect from a sewage treatment operation, and there is also muck spreading in fields nearby which could be the source of the stench.

Roger Willison-Gray, chairman of the Cedars Park Residents Association, said: “This is a massive problem. Almost every weekend without fail it starts.

“Anglian Water are charming, smile sweetly, say all is fine, can't understand why it is happening, and will look into it. We believe it would cost millions for them to put it right and they will not do so unless forced to. We are looking to the council to take enforcement action now.”

Council leader Tim Passmore said: “It is unacceptable to have this stench pervading across Stowmarket. We need to know that this will be resolved.

“Cedars Park estate is affected the most. Not all sewage works stink like this, why does this one smell more than others?”

A spokesman for Anglian Water said: “It is quite possible that there is some background odour and a sewage smell, it is a site with sewage on it. Sewage treatment works do smell, they treat sewage.

“But there are no operation problems on site and we have had no recent contact with environmental health officers or recent customer complaints.

“We want to work with the community. There is a lot of muck spreading going on, a lot of harvesting, it could be that there is some confusion about the source of the odours.”