A SEWER is leaking at a popular park forcing residents to endure putrid smells.

The waste is leaking onto the land near the footpath into Eastwood Park, at the entrance near Rayleigh Road.

It is understood it has been steadily leaking into the area, and also the small brook near the path for the past week.

Verina Weaver, admin for the Eastwood and St Laurence Action Group, said: “It has been getting worse over the last week and the smell is absolutely foul.

“We are worried that it is getting into the brook that runs through the park as we can smell it at our house in Walters close where the brook runs at the bottom of our garden.

“The brook itself hasn’t had any maintenance for many years and all the lining stones are falling away - it quite often gets blocked because of stuff that gets thrown in from the small bridge on the entrance.

“I’ve informed Anglian Water about the leak and they said they would be sending out technicians to investigate it.

“The water in the brook itself is quite cloudy, where the leak is, the land runs down to the brook, and there is an outfall pipe that runs straight into it.”

Councillor Paul Collins, of Eastwood Park ward, said he would be lobbying Anglian Water to fix the problem.

He said: “I’m going to be on their case straight away as the leaking of sewage into the land is going to cause problems for people using the park and will certainly make the Environment Agency worry about what could be leaking into the land.

“The brook is also a problem, in that it needs clearing and we’ve had separate unrelated issues around the park where they have been overflowing after heavy rainfall.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said they sent teams plus a water tanker out to the leak yesterday afternoon in a bid to try and fix the suspected blockage.

They said: “Once it is fixed the teams can carry out a CCTV survey of the pipe to ensure there are no further blockages further down the pipe.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and we would like to thank local residents for their patience while we complete these emergency repairs.”