Residents fuming as enormous overground sewage pipe runs through their street

Residents in a Northamptonshire housing estate have been left horrified after a gigantic sewage pipe was constructed outside their homes.

It runs from a nearby pumping station through the Bovis Homes site in Wellingborough and was put in place after a leak was discovered in the underground system.

Anglian Water said the pipe was only put through the estate to allow repairs to be carried out to the main network.

Resident Dominic Aloia admitted that while the pipe is a 'fantastic bit of engineering', it's the last thing in the world he wants outside his house.

"Don't get me wrong - it's a fantastic bit of engineering. But do I want it outside my house? No," he said to ITV News Anglia.

"Any family member that's come round, [they say] 'Oh, my God. What is that about? How can you live with that outside your window?'

"And also, when you drive down past it, it's filthy, it's covered in mud. It just looks absolutely awful."

The pipe was constructed in the middle of December, but almost two months on, residents have clearly had enough.

David Purnell, a local vlogger, said: "I was shocked - really shocked. I've never seen anything like that on that kind of scale, especially when they have it right on this new build.

"I mean, these houses have been up for a year-and-a-half. So to see that, I did chuckle a little bit. And then of course, you think of the residents. God bless them."

Regan Harris from Anglian Water thanked residents for their patience and stressed that the ongoing work is 'very necessary.'

She said: "We've been in direct contact with the local residents right from the beginning and we're very thankful for their patience while we've been undertaking this work. But it's very necessary."

In a bid to make light of the situation, residents have now started to joke that the sewage pipe is the eighth wonder of the world.

Others haven't been able to help themselves from comparing it to the pipes in the Super Mario Brothers video games.

Councillor Marion Turner-Hawes, of Wellingborough Town Council, said: "This is a big development on the eastern side of Wellingborough.

"I think it's up to 10,000 houses planned here, and this is fairly early on in this development and we've got literally a massive issue around the infrastructure.

"This is unbelievable. It could be the eighth wonder of the world, but it's a very, very strange thing to see in any community."

LADbible has reached out to Anglian Water for further comment.