LONG-SUFFERING resident Martin Williams has been promised relief by Thames Water from the waste water that has flooded round his house since before Christmas.

Thames Water has come up with a scheme that they hope will solve the foul problem for residents in Little Marlow Road, Maple Rise and Newtown Road in Marlow.

People living in the affected area have had to contend with sewage and dirty water flooding their gardens, since the beginning of the year.

Andrew Boyd, spokesman for the company, said there was a blockage in one part of the drain between two manhole covers.

He said: "We have cleared some sort of bottleneck in that part of the sewer. The idea is to bypass that manhole.

"We began this at the start of the week and hope that this will take pressure off the system."

He said that the blocked drain has forced waste water to seep into nearby homes.

Martin Williams, whose house in Maple Rise has been affected by sewage seeping through drains and on to his property, said: "I do not believe that this will solve the problem of the surface water remaining on our property but it should reduce the flooding of waste water."

He added that his family has had waste water flooding their home since before Christmas.

Problems have persisted with the Little Marlow Road sewer.

Mr Boyd added that the plan was to increase capacity of the sewer by avoiding the blockage.

However he admitted that it was not clear whether the scheme would work.

He said: "We do not know that it will work. We think it will. If this works then it will increase capacity and mean that we can stop tankering."

At the moment the company has been forced to use tankers to visit affected houses in the area to take away waste water.