Villagers are pushing for authorities to work on sewage systems in their area after hazardous waste overflowed onto footpaths.

Residents in Hemingford Grey were left facing “significant health risks” and were unable to flush toilets at the start of this year.

Those who lived in St Ives Road had to trudge through the polluted water to leave their homes.

Since then, Anglian Water has spoken with the community – but residents fear that more heavy rain could result in the same situation as December 2020.

Phil McGuire, who has lived in the village for 15 years, said: “Anglian Water did some minor maintenance work but nothing has been done to address the fundamental problem which is more sewage flow than they have capacity to pump

“In March I had two visits asking about the problems and I challenged them hard about replacing the entire pipe infrastructure.

“I explained the system had continued to overflow weeks after the last rainfall, so it was a sub-surface ground water issue.

"I asked about replacing the manhole covers on my property with screw down sealing lids and raising the overflow levels so that I could at least ensure overflow happened outside of my garage, and perhaps I could divert the flow to the road gully, they said they would ask, but I have had no further feedback.”

More than 360 residents signed a petition after the raw sewage gushed out of manholes and flooded roads and gardens up to the depth of one foot deep at Christmas.

An Anglian Water spokesperson, said: “We continue to work with the local council and Environment Agency to investigate the flooding issues which affected people in Hemingford Grey and the surrounding areas earlier this year.

“We have been conducting surveys to assess any impact the local watercourse had on our assets during this time and continue to monitor our assets to protect them should they become inundated with groundwater in the future.

“We have recently been in the area carrying out separate work on an air valve, which will be replaced in the coming weeks.

“We would like to reassure local residents that our assets are working as they should and we continue to monitor our equipment to ensure our customers can use their facilities as normal.”