SEWERS surrounding a Wordsley school have been moved at a cost of £30,000 to stop the playground being littered with raw sewage after heavy rainfall.

Toilet paper and sanitary items covered the play area and staff car park at Ashwood Park Primary School in June after a flash flood caused clogged storm drains to overflow.

As it was not the first incident of its kind, former headteacher Steve Hudson kicked up a stink and called for urgent action to be taken to improve the flow of storm water around the school.

Severn Trent admitted the situation was "totally unacceptable" and began moving sewer pipes and manholes away from the school in Bells Lane during the summer holiday.

The work was recently completed and current headteacher Keith Butler said there had been an instant improvement.

He said: "The work caused a bit of disruption at the start of term but we are really pleased it has been sorted out. We haven't had any sewage leaking since."

John O'Leary, solution manager for Severn Trent, said investigations were still taking place to see what could be done to protect the wider area.

He continued: “The way the sewers in the Stourbridge area are designed mean that when we have heavy rain storms, all the rainwater that runs off from the paths and roads drains into the sewers.

"With weather patterns changing lately, we’re now seeing shorter but heavier rain showers, and when this happens, there’s not always enough space for both huge amounts of rainwater and our customers’ sewage in the pipes.

“When our pipes are full, sewage and rain water can escape out of the sewers at their lowest point, and unfortunately for Ashwood Park Primary School, the sewer manholes were located in front of the school gates and in the playground."

Mr O'Leary added: "We’ve already had some heavy downpours since the work was completed and we’re happy to say that the new pipes are working well and we’ve had no problems at the school.”