Fat, oil and grease led to raw sewage being pumped out into the Meads Community Woodland.

The overflowing manhole was reported to Southern Water last Thursday afternoon.

Contractors Cappagh Browne Utilities inspected the site, which is accessed off Staplehurst Road, Sittingbourne, the following day.

Keith Johnson and Claire Robinson posted a warning about the incident via the Sonora Fields on Facebook group.

Mr Johnson wrote: “For users of the Meads Community Woodland – as you walk towards the centre of the woodland there is a large pond of water that ‘could’ be sewage.

“This has appeared over the last couple of days, and is increasing in size and depth.

“If you walk in the entrance opposite the Jenny Wren and turn left and then take the right fork in the path, it is down there on the right side after about 30 meters.”

Ms Robinson said: “Its flooding badly and absolutely stinks rotten.”

A spokesman for the water company said: “Our contractors visited the site on Friday morning and discovered the cause of the leak was due to a build-up of fat, oil and grease in a wastewater pipe that runs through the woodland.

“The blockage has been cleared and a clean-up will be carried out as soon as possible.

“We ask our customers to help us reduce the risk of blockages by ensuring they put cooled cooking oils into the bin or recycle them at the local tip rather than pouring them down sinks.”

An additional 224 new homes, which are a mix of two, three, four and five-bedroom houses and one and two-bedroom flats, are being built by Redrow Homes on land at Watermark, which is next to the woodland.

Paul Lewis, who lives in Sonora Fields across the road from the site, said he feared the development could put more pressure on the sewage system.

The 62-year-old dad of five, of Amethyst Drive, said: “The potential is there for it to happen again when there’s more housing going up there.”

A spokesman for Swale council, which owns the woodland, said: “We have not come across it before in this particular area so there’s no reason to think it will happen again but of course we are reliant on Southern Water to update us on the situation and keep us informed.”