RESIDENTS in a village near Warminster are shocked and angry after receiving a letter demanding they pay £7,000 each for repairs to the sewerage system.

Selwood Housing announced on Tuesday it plans to invest £700,000 in its 25 rural sewerage system plants throughout the south west over four years, including one in Crockerton, just a week after notifying private residents they would have to pay thousands of pounds each towards the work.

Letters were sent out to 320 homes in the area, around half of which are owned by Selwood Housing.

To add insult to injury, private homeowners who are not tenants of the housing association were also told an extra 15 per cent administration charge of £1,050 would be incurred if they didn’t pay within 30 days of receiving an invoice for the work.

Stephen White, 52, who lives in The Green, Crockerton, received a letter from Selwood. He said: “This has put people in a lot of worry. It is obscene.

“It’s not a request, it’s a demand. It is either ‘you pay or you go to court’.”

The letter, sent to residents last Wednesday, highlights various methods of payment options including the ability to pay in monthly installments, but it is a cost that is just not feasible, according to Mr White.

“The payments would be about £600 a month and that’s more than my mortgage; it’s unbelievable,” said the father-of-one.

“No one has got £7,000 at short notice, or can afford to pay £600 extra a month. The only option is to phone up and plead poverty and pay it over so many years.”

When Selwood Housing took over West Wiltshire’s council homes stock in 2001, the transfer also included the sewage treatment plants for 320 homes not connected to mains drainage.

The housing association has notified residents who are not Selwood Housing tenants they need to pay for ‘their share of the work’, which the association says is outlined in their conveyance documents.

“Everyone’s job is at risk and now they go and send a letter like this, it’s unbelievable,” said Mr White.

“It is too much and a ridiculous thing to ask for but when we are in the middle of a recession, and everyone is cutting back, it beggars belief.”

Rebecca O’Neil, spokesman for Selwood, said: “The work to our sewage plants is necessary to ensure that our plants continue to treat sewage to the regulations required by the Environment Agency and to be able provide a suitable service to our customers.

“We recognise that some people might have difficulty paying and urge them to get in touch with us.

“Some of the work won’t be starting for a few years, but we wanted to warn people that this cost was coming so that they could find ways of paying, through their insurance or through savings.”