Oxford residents blighted by 'stench' next to homes

ANYONE who lives in Littlemore, Sandford, Greater Leys or Blackbird Leys will testify that we are often blighted by the stench of effluent released into the local ditches etc by the Sandford sewage works.

This has happened for more years than memory allows.

All these areas are already subject to very large increases in population with proposals for a further 3500 houses next to the sewage works in Grenoble Road.

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Thames Water claims the problem is insignificant and that the capacity is enough to deal with the proposed growth.

Perhaps they can explain why houses in these areas keep the windows closed in an attempt to keep the smell out.

More often than not during prolonged sunny spells so let’s not blame sudden rainfall.

Of course we must then question why the council planning committee continue to allow this inexorable housing growth when the infrastructure is not in place first.

Surely sewage disposal is a basic in a modern society.

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At the moment there is no proper road infrastructure proposal for Grenoble Road either yet we already have the science park as well as the new extra population diverted to Sandford Road and Oxford Road, Littlemore or Garsington Road.

It doesn’t take much vision to see that the science park borders the dual carriageway so the move to make a link should have been made when the park was first discussed.

Only bottom line greed or plain stupidity can be the culprits of such mistakes.

So Thames Water has huge questions to answer but so do the so called planners that are allowing this debacle.

Geoff Leitch
Littlemore