Excess sewage was storedat town's treatment plant

Several people have contacted the News to say the sewage was being transported by tanker on a daily basis from Horncastle to Lincoln.

They said it was because the treatment plant - off Boston Road - could not cope with the amount of human waste, an issue which has been raised in recent planning meetings regarding new housing developments.

However, an Anglian Water spokesman has revealed the human waste was stored at Horncastle before being supplied to farmers to use on their land as fertiliser.

The spokesman said: “Each year Anglian Water generate 325,000 tonnes of a fertiliser product called biosolids, which is a by-product of the sewage treatment process.

“This is supplied to farmers across the region for use on their land.

“From time to time this needs to be stored at some of our water recycling centres before it can be used on farmland. This is particularly the case when it’s wet. The recent rain has prevented its use on fields and created a backlog which has been temporarily stored at sites across our region, including Horncastle.

“The current warm weather has helped us to reduce this backlog and, in the case of Horncastle, all the fertiliser has now been taken away. We know storing this product and the necessary lorry movements may have caused some disruption to residents in the short term and we’re sorry for that.”