A group of homeowners are fed up after forking out £50,000 to try to fix a faulty sewage pump.

Over the last year, people living in Castor Park, Allington, have been left to deal with blockages, leaks and wastewater overspills.

After plans were approved by Maidstone council, Clarendon Homes built nine properties on the site along with a sewage line and pumps.

Clarendon insists everything was installed correctly and it wasn’t aware of problems until recently.

Once the last property was sold, the maintenance of the waste station passed over to the “management company” which was set up and run by the residents.

However, they believe the responsibility should have been adopted by Southern Water - the utility company they are paying in their fees for waste removal.

Nick, 51, and Rasa Fifield, 50, have lived on the estate for six years.

The couple have two manhole covers and an inspection chamber in their back garden, which leads to the pumping station.

As a result, they are always concerned about sewage overflowing and running into their home.

Finance manager Rasa said: “It is unbelievably stressful.

“You flush the toilet and think ‘oh my god, is that water going to run down or is it going to start bubbling up?’

“It really impacts our quality of life, because you're constantly on standby. It makes you paranoid.”

The problems first started in December 2023. In the last year, the nine households have spent more than £50,000 on specialist investigations, repairs and emergency sewage removals.

They paid out approximately £15,000 to waste-management service County Clean to have the pumps replaced and also schedule a tanker to remove the sewage build-up every 10 days.

In recent weeks, it is understood that rainwater is finding its way into the system which is causing the levels to quickly rise.

On Friday, December 27, they had to pay £810 for an emergency removal tank due to an unexpected overflow.

Another call-out was needed on New Year’s Eve.

Until the problem is resolved, the residents are forced to contribute around £310 every four days to have the waste manually disposed of.

Pooja Menon is a preschool teacher and mum of two. She is worried about the dangers the sewage could pose to her children, aged six and three.

“The fact that we had to get an emergency tanker to suck it all out because there was raw sewage on the road was really worrying for me," the 37-year-old said.

“I know it is a health concern for everyone but my mind immediately goes to my children.”

Resident Dan Sargent, who works at Westfalia Fruit UK in Kings Hill, has been looking into the ongoing issues.

The 46-year-old says Clarendon Homes took out a 10-year policy that covers building defects.

As recommended by the insurance company, Integra, the residents paid for an investigation into the sewage pump.

It found that the system was flawed, with around 290 metres of pipework being incorrectly laid and improperly backfilled with rocks from the site instead of the proper material.

This resulted in the pipes being crushed and this stopped them from working properly.

However, the insurance company stated that “communal sewers” aren’t included in their policy.

“We were assured by the builder that everything was covered,” Dan explained.

“Had we known it was completely uninsured, we probably would have insured it before it went wrong.

“If you read the policy, it implies it covers everything.

“I just want to have a resolution to the problem. I'm not interested in saying it's someone's fault.

“The Victorians built sewers that are still functioning perfectly well. We're at the point where I'd rather just dig the whole thing up and put a new one in.”

He added: “It seems a shame as these are good quality homes.”

Mum-of-one, Danielle Ross-Davies has been organising the waste tankers and subsequent blockage removals on behalf of her neighbours.

“We are seven years in and shouldn't be having this problem,” the 35-year-old said. “It's frustrating because I'm just going off what people are telling me.

“Effectively it's like the blind leading the blind at the moment. It's a nightmare.

“How are we supposed to find this extra money, especially in the cost of a living crisis? We are just nine houses with normal jobs.”

Her husband Jamie, 36, added: “There's no light at the end of the tunnel – we do not know when this is going to end.

“We can't let sewage just come up and over, we've got to get it removed. You can't sell the houses either, so we're stuck here.”

Mandy Stevens was the first to move onto the site seven years ago.

She added: “I'm more frustrated that we're not getting any answers to who's at fault here. We've paid out a lot of money already. It's hard – I’m on my own having to fund this.”

Construction has since started on more than 100 properties by Penenden Heath Developments for the West Kent Housing Association.

The new estate is opposite the row of nine houses and is financed with a grant from the government body Homes England.

However, the current residents of Castor Park are worried this will impact their sewage line and make matters worse.

They received a letter in December confirming that builders would be digging up the area to lay their own sewage line.

Penenden Heath Developments has told KentOnline the works will not impact existing homeowners and that they would be installing a “completely independent foul drainage solution”.

It also confirmed it wouldn’t touch the existing sewage line and will not be connecting into it, or connecting it to the drainage system for the new estate.

A spokesman from Clarendon Homes said: “We are aware of this situation, we installed everything correctly and to our knowledge it has been working correctly for over seven years until recently.

“We’ll assist the residents where possible in trying to resolve the issue if they wish to make contact with us.”

“We’ll assist the residents where possible in trying to resolve the issue if they wish to make contact with us.”

CountyClean say they never had any involvement in the installation of the pump station and the rising main.

Managing director and owner, Mike Walker, added: “We are aware of the ongoing sewage issues at Castor Park and recognise the impact this has had on the residents.

“In July 2023, we were contacted by one of the residents to do an investigation as to why their pump station was not discharging as it should.

“Our initial investigation found that one of the two pumps had failed, leaving the pump station operating on only one pump, so we replaced the failed pump.

“Approximately three months later, we were contacted by Castor Park stating they were experiencing issues with the pump station again.

“All tests carried out found no issues with the pump station itself and therefore led to further investigation to the rising main.”