An elderly woman who lives near a foul-smelling water treatment centre fears Witham’s new homes will literally create a bigger stink.

Ivy Laslo, 72, has put up with the pong from Anglian Water’s treatment centre in Blackwater Lane, Witham, for the last four years while living at her flat in nearby Blackman Way.

On the worst days, the wind blows the smell – which is "like diarrhoea" – into Mrs Laslo’s dining room, forcing her to keep the windows shut until it passes.

She said: "If you leave my bedroom window open and it happens overnight, I wake up choking.

"That’s how bad it is and it’s been going on for donkey’s years.

"I’ve got a bowl of fruit in my dining room and the smell penetrates the bananas – it’s horrendous.

"What you’re smelling is bodily fluids – are we smelling other people’s diseases and infections? We are certainly smelling their bowel movements.

"I’ve got a hole in my lung and I’m not ill, but I do have to watch out and if I catch a cold, I have to go straight on antibiotics.

"The council always make excuses and I have asked them before, ‘would you really want to live here, smelling that when you open your windows?’"

With hundreds of new homes planned for Witham, Mrs Laslo fears more sewage will mean more bad smells.

She said: "If they can’t cope with it as we stand now, how are they going to cope with all the new houses?

"I’ve lived in Witham since 1985 and it was going on then – the stench is going to get worse as time goes on."

Anglian Water spokesman Sarah Dobson said there was an odour control unit on the site, but several factors could lead to the smell escaping.

She said: "Our Witham Water Recycling Centre receives thousands of litres of sewage a day and we take odour complaints from local residents seriously.

"The odour control unit absorbs particles and significantly reduces unpleasant odours escaping into the air but, depending on weather conditions, the time of day and wind direction, odours levels may seem higher from time to time." 

Residents can contact Anglian Water on Facebook, Twitter or by calling 03457 145145.

A spokesman for Braintree Council said: "We can confirm thataresident did contact us about odours from the sewage plant in Witham.

"As part of the normal procedure, they were asked to keep and returnadiary of when they were affected by the odours."

Witham MP Priti Patel said: "With future development planned for the town, Anglian Water, Braintree District Council and developers need work closely together to ensure that adequate sewage infrastructure is in place and the treatment works can cope with new demand."