Before planning permission was granted to Belway and Redrow for the Hill Farm development, we (Sharnbrook Parish Council & Bedford Borough Council) were told that Anglian Water were able to cater for the increase of sewage generated by the new development and that the sewage (not including clear water from rain) would be captured in two large tanks on the estate and fed into the sewage system at ‘quiet’ times. In other words when the rest of the village was not using it. It now turns out this is completely untrue and was in fact NEVER the plan.

In the last year (August 2025 to July 2026) Odell Road treatment works spilled raw sewage into the River Great Ouse equating to 268.2 hours, or in other words a flow of raw sewage into the Great Ouse for over 11 days! This enters the river just upstream of the bridge at Felmersham where so many of our residents and those of Felmersham enjoy the river in the sunshine. 

How on earth could that treatment site cope with a 50% increase in volume? The problem comes when it rains. The clean water (Rain water) enters the same system as foul water (household sewage) via the drains and the whole lot goes to Odell Road. The new estate will only be adding sewage or foul water to the system as the clean water is separately handled in the new balancing ponds. Nevertheless I’d like to understand the impact, in detail, and with planned time scales.

In July I sent a Freedom of Information request to Anglian Water via their own website asking very specific questions. They had twenty days to respond with answers. I asked about any meetings Anglian Water had with the developers, requesting minutes of the meetings. I asked for the calculations of the volume expected from the new houses and to outline plans for Odell Road treatment works to expand to contain the extra volume along with other specifics. I received a reply 51 minutes before the deadline informing me that Anglian Water are taking a further 20 days to respond due to the nature of my request. According to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) they are allowed to do this. I checked.

In the meantime, David Eyre discovered that a company called Icosa Water Services Limited has applied to the Water Services Regulation Authority to be approved as the “Water Services Undertaker in place of Anglian Water Services Limited for the area known as Mill Road, Sharnbrook, Milton Keynes MK44 1NP”. It would appear, then, that Anglian Water CANNOT deal with the increase in sewage expected to come from the new estate. Who are Icosa and what will they do with the sewage they gather from the two tanks on Hill Farm? Will they be taking it to the roundabout on Odell Road/School Approach and pump it into the drain there for a gravity feed to Odell Road as AW do when the Kennell Hill pumping station is out of action? That will not help at all so I hope not.

The houses on Hill Farm are being advertised from £500k. And I am concerned that they will not be on mains sewage. We need to find out.

So the questions are:

Did the planning department at BBC know about this?

Was the disposal of sewage from the new estate part of the planning application. No? That seems incredible to me.

If not why not and what are they going to do about it now they do know?

The time extension AW are allowed to answer my questions expires at 5pm on Friday September 11^th. If I do not hear the ICO will be immediately informed and they have promised to ‘deal‘ with the matter to ensure AW keep to their legal obligations in this specific matter.

Update:

Anglian Water replied after the deadline by 1 day.

I have copies of memos between Redrow, Bellway and Anglian Water briefly discussing the movement of sewage off the site. From these emails it is clear that the Developers have no responsibility other than to get the sewage off site. How it moves from there is not their but there responsibility of Anglian Water.

They say, due to the topography of the site, some of the waste will need to go to Templer’s Way to join the sewers and some, the lower half of the site, will have to go to Mill Road sewers. There is no information about how this is to actually play out. Other than we now know AW have handed the issue to Icosa Water Services Ltd.

Anglian Water have NO plans to expand the capacity at Odell Road Sewage Treatment Works (Odell STW).

I. believe that any spillage, after the new estate is fully occupied, will increase the concentration of spillages from Odell STW in to The Great Ouse by up to 50%. I would very much like it if I was proved wrong.

I have passed this information to a local environmental specialist as the information is a bit technical. We need a little help.

I have also send an Environmental Information request and Freedom of Information request to Ofwat, the Water Services Regulator. They have 10 days to respond and 20 days to come up with the information.

In the meantime, would anyone like to come to the bridge at Felmersham for a game of Poo Sticks?