A FORMER Worcester Mayor has threatened to take legal action against water giants Severn Trent for causing a stink in a city suburb.

Councillor Derek Prodger has gained cross-party support for his suggestion that Worcester City Council should seek to prosecute Severn Trent for the smell in Lower Wick.

As the city council discussed the second stage of the Air Quality Review and Assessment, Coun Prodger raised the issue of Severn Trent's Lower Wick sewage treatment plant.

He said the authority should pursue legal action when a mechanical breakdown at the plant caused the smell.

"Severn Trent can be held accountable," he said. "We will now look at complaints to Severn Trent over the last two to four weeks."

"It is a possibility that if Severn Trent does not, in the opinion of the council, get the air pollution under control they could be liable to prosecution.

"At the moment they have been polluting the area with obnoxious smells for over a month now because a piece of equipment has broken down. They are always doing it - breaking down because of the archaic state of the equipment."

Roy Fidoe, Worcester's head of environmental health, confirmed a mechanical breakdown had occurred at the plant recently, causing a smell.

But he stressed that the breakdown was not the usual cause of the smell and pointed out that Seven Trent was currently carrying out a £5.5m refurbishment to tackle this.

Severn Trent says that once it is completed - in December at the earliest - improvements should be noticed.

A spokeswoman for Severn Trent said Coun Prodger was very welcome to discuss the issue directly with the company.

"We are more than happy to discuss with him all the efforts we are making at Lower Wick to keep the odour to a minimum."

She said she knew nothing about a recent mechanical breakdown at the plant.

At the end of last month, the Evening News revealed how Lower Wick resident Michael Clift complained to both the city council and water regulator Ofwat after putting up with the smell for 20 years.

Mr Clift said he felt let down by the city council's environmental department which, he said, should have invoked its powers to improve the works some time ago.