RESIDENTS are fighting plans for a sewage treatment plant on a flood plain where 100 homes will be built. 

A sewage treatment plant has been planned for a flood plain off Derritt Lane, Sopley, to help deal with the waste of 100 homes that have been approved in the area. 

Despite already expressing concerns towards the development and how it will increase flooding in the area, residents have now been forced to push harder against the treatment plans in fear for their health. 

Bransgore resident, Ellen Foster, said: "The sewage plant will be run on electricity and we have regular electrical failures around here.

"That will run the risk of sewage seeping into the ground nearby and into the Clockhouse Stream which runs into the River Avon which is protected and it goes behind people's gardens."

An area that often floods, Ellen expressed concern it would create a large health and safety risk with sewage in the water. 

She said the plans were a way for developers to "cut corners" and not to link the 100 homes to the main sewage line.

Derritt Lane resident, Linda Wheeler, said: "I have lived on Derritt Lane for over 30 years and this year has been the worse for flooding. Derritt Lane has been flooded for weeks at a time, the road is breaking away at the edges dangerously so in some cases with a number of vehicles being stuck.

"The fields on which the new houses are to be built are a flood plain and so should never have been approved and to allow a sewage plant to also be built there is total madness."

Tim Hoskinson, planning director for Wyatt Homes, said: “As part of our planning agreement with New Forest District Council and in order help conserve the protected habitats around the River Avon and Christchurch Harbour, our development in Bransgore will feature a brand new package treatment plant (PTP).

“This method of dealing with foul water provides an enhanced level of nutrient removal compared to a standard discharge. We’d like to reassure local people that the PTP is widely used and is installed safely below ground with absolutely no odour or risk to health.”