WESSEX Water has submitted plans for a new sewage pumping station compound near Malmesbury.

The company says that the scheme has been designed as a solution to problems with the existing drainage arrangement for properties on Easton Town, Sherston.

The properties are currently served by a septic tank which discharges into a blind ditch. The ditch is frequently overwhelmed as it can only be emptied once a year when the crops in the adjacent field to the north have been harvested and a tanker is allowed access,

The scheme will also require the construction of an access road and new access via an existing track way from Tetbury Road.

An eye-wash station is also proposed.

The area of the proposed scheme is
currently served by individual or shared septic tanks and cesspits. The rest of Sherston
village is on mains sewerage, much of which dates from 1960.

Part of the proposed development will be within Sherston Conservation Area, but there are no planned demolition works to any buildings or any gates, fences, walls, or railings over one metre where abutting a highway or over two metres elsewhere.

Works taking place within the Conservation Area will be removal of a section of dry-stone wall, removal of two trees and an area of grass and scrub, and installation of the SPS compound.

Wessex Water say that the scheme will deliver environmental benefits by establishing connections to the sewerage network for a number of properties currently using a septic tank, eliminating the risk of groundwater contamination from the septic tank overflowing.

There will be a minor increase in traffic and noise during the construction period, but this will be temporary.

The proposed development will result in a permanent loss of land and up to five trees and one of two trees in one group.

In order to compensate for the permanent loss of habitat, a number of measures are proposed, including the planting of a minimum of ten trees within the grounds of Sherston C of E Primary School and sites identified in the local area by Sustainable Sherston, the enhancement of an area of amenity grassland at the entrance of the school to create a wildflower meadow, and placement of three bird boxes and one hedgehog nest box within the grounds of the primary school.

No significant adverse effects on the environment are anticipated.