THE drainage problems on this Wirral street are so bad – residents are frequently seeing human waste floating into their gardens.

The problems have been revealed after more than 120 people voiced their opposition to plans for a new development on Farr Hall Drive in Heswall.

Under the plans for the Heswall road, which were discussed by the council’s planning committee on Thursday, there would be a two-storey extension to one of the homes, with a separate new property and garage also built on the same site.

But residents and local councillors have voiced a number of concerns, including that there are already sewage problems, with “human excrement” often floating into residents’ gardens.

Committee member Cllr Kathy Hodson said: “Farr Hall Drive is flooded all the time. The residents there have to deal with human excrement in their gardens whenever there’s an awful lot of rain.

“Now I don’t mind changing babies’ nappies or picking up dog muck, but I would not want in my garden to have to clear up human excrement because the drains can’t cope.

“The point we are trying to make particularly in the fact that Farr Hall Drive is a bridleway, and that the drains can’t cope with any more properties.”

During the meeting, concerns were also raised about a “lack of information” supplied in the report, with claims the site had more planning history than documented.

Ward Cllr Les Rowlands represented objectors at the meeting, and claimed there was a “lengthy history” of both approved and refused plans dating back to before 1980, and that the plot had already been divided.

He also claimed the extension was “un-neighbourly”, and would mean “considerable overlooking and loss of privacy”.

He added: “Farr Hall Drive has a long history of problems with flooding drainage. This is a regular occurrence which persists to this present day.”

Cllr Rowlands said Welsh Water – the body managing water onsite – sent a report to the council highlighting the problems of sewage floating into people’s gardens several years ago. But since then, six more applications for the road have been approved by the local authority.

The report reportedly said the road was at “full capacity” and “could not cope with any more properties being added to the present system without major investment”.

He added: “It is not good enough for this authority to turn a blind eye to these problems.”

But he was told by the council’s planning officer the site had “no relevant planning history” – which didn’t mean there was no planning history whatsoever.

In terms of drainage, he was told the site is not in a “flood risk zone”, and that because it was only one new home, it did not meet the criteria for flood risk assessment.

It was decided to defer the report until the next meeting, during which time officers would seek clarification on which of the site’s history was relevant, as well as to check whether Welsh Water had made any representations about the report.

Recommending the report be deferred to the committee’s next meeting in January, chair Cllr Steve Foulkes said: “I’ve had my planning training, and it is quite an order for a planning application to be deferred, but I think we’d all be a lot happier if those issues were on the next report and some possible comment or no comment from Welsh Water.”

Addressing the committee, Cllr David Elderton said: “I know that drainage and water supply is not something that the planning committee would normally consider, but in this instance if, as is suggested, we’ve got excreta coming up in people’s gardens, that goes way beyond being a drainage problem.

“That goes down to being an environmental health office issue, which I do believe comes under planning so all I’m saying is while we’re considering what you have suggested, I think the whole issue of whether the drainage issue is causing excreta to come up in the gardens of houses needs to be included in the investigations in the interests of everybody.”

Welsh Water was contacted for comment.