A PARISH councillor has called for an "urgent" investigation into reports of pollution of Haworth's Bridgehouse Beck, and voiced fears of a possible wider sewage problem in the village.

The matter was raised at the latest meeting of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council. Speaking after the meeting, deputy chairman Coun Angel Kershaw said Haworth's entire sewage system needs an overhaul.

But Yorkshire Water has responded that there is no suggestion that the village's sewer system is being overwhelmed.

Coun Kershaw said she wants to hear from Haworth residents who have noticed unpleasant sewer smells around their properties, or have evidence that sewage is reaching the village's streams.

She said: "We've become concerned at the reports we've had about the sewer problems and potential pollution of Bridgehouse Beck.

"We believe the situation deserves a proper investigation, and that agencies such as Bradford Council and Yorkshire Water should be looking at the matter urgently.

"We've had a number of issues with sewage over the last few years, certainly since a couple of new developments were built in the parish.

"I know of sightings of excrement going into Bridgehouse Beck, and it's got to the point where it can't just be because of a broken drain somewhere.

"We've never had a proper 20th century sewage system built here and sewage is running under people's houses and going into the beck.

"We want a solution and we need major works carried out. It's not good enough to just tinker with a drain or two."

However, Worth Valley ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen said this was not something which could be resolved overnight.

She said more investigation was needed to determine the exact source of any problem.

"It needs involvement from a lot of different people and has to be handled very carefully," she said. "If people have evidence they should bring it forward.

"There have been concerns raised, we are aware of them, and if there is an issue we'll fight tooth and nail to put it right."

The Yorkshire Water spokesman said: "We disagree with Coun Kershaw's comments regarding the capacity of our sewer in Haworth. There is no suggestion that it is being overwhelmed and, despite her claims of frequent complaints regarding odours, we've been contacted just five times by customers about odours in the last year.

"Three of these queries were from the same individual.

"The odours that have arisen have been caused by mis-connected pipes, leading to waste from people's homes discharging into the local water course.

"These issues have not been caused by Yorkshire Water but through a mixture of developer, contractor and home owner errors.

"While responsibility for these issues typically lies with the home or business owner, due to the severity of the issue we have repaired a number of these mis-connections as a gesture of goodwill. We will continue to correct these issues as and when we can."

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "Investigations into this matter are the responsibility of the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water."

No one from the Environment Agency had responded by the time the Keighley News went to press.