York: anger as raw sewage enters homes in Rawcliffe

Lisa Footman lives with her husband and their child in Bowland Way, off Green Lane in Rawcliffe.

For the past four years she has witnessed drains inside her semi-detached home and garden back up with raw sewage after heavy rain.

She claims a nearby Yorkshire Water pumping station in Green Lane is the cause of the problem.

But a Yorkshire Water spokesperson said the pumping station is “fully operational and working as it should”.

The Yorkshire Water pumping station off Green Lane (Image: Newsquest)

Instead, they said the sewer is becoming overloaded due to a housing development off Green Lane, near Aldi, feeding into it.

The spokesperson said Yorkshire Water and the developer, Redrow, are investigating the issue.

Mrs Footman said the problem came to a head over the festive period.

On Tuesday, January 2, she noticed sewage starting to come up drains in her downstairs bathroom.

The 34-year-old, who works as an accountant, said her neighbours in Bowland Way, Green Lane and Caldbeck Close had similar issues, with one reporting that sewage entered their garage and another their garden.

Sewage in the garden of Mrs Footman's neighbours (Image: Supplied)

Mrs Footman said the incident was reported to Yorkshire Water on Tuesday, January 2, but the pumping station was not emptied until Saturday, January 6.

'The situation needs fixing' - resident

During the four days, she said the household had to limit water use, meaning they could not shower, use the washing machine or dishwasher, and even had to limit toilet use.

One of her neighbours shovelled sewage out of his garage himself, she added. 

A neighbour of Mrs Footman shovelling sewage out of their garage (Image: Supplied)

Mrs Footman said over the past four years she has lost clothes and outdoor furniture due to it being covered in sewage when drains back up.

“The situation needs fixing,” she told The Press.

“Sewage is being allowed to come into our homes.”

Yorkshire Water statement

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson told The Press the company is working with Redrow to carry out “further investigations” of the sewer.

“We understand incidents like this are distressing for customers,” they said.

“Our investigations have found the pumping station is fully operational and working as it should.

“However, we are working in collaboration with a housing developer to investigate a third-party connection into the private sewer upstream of the Green Lane pumping station.

“We believe additional flows from this connection has led to periods of higher-than-expected flows to Green Lane and caused wastewater to back up and escape the network.

“We are working with the developer to carry out further investigations of the third-party connection to the unadopted, private sewer.”

Developer statement

David Faraday, technical director for Redrow (Yorkshire), told The Press: “We can confirm our pumping station has been operating correctly and within the allowable discharge rate.

"We are working closely with Yorkshire Water and the landowners of the mixed-use development to support them as they work towards finding a swift resolution.”

Councillor joins calls for issue to be resolved

Cllr Darryl Smalley, Liberal Democrat councillor for Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, called for the issue to be resolved.

Cllr Darryl Smalley (Image: Supplied)

“It is clear that our sewage systems are not fit for purpose if heavy rainfall results in raw sewage flooding residents gardens and has limited their use of showers and drinking water,” he said.

“This is quite clearly unacceptable and we join in residents calls for Yorkshire Water and the developer to resolve the issue.”