UK’s gloomy seaside village with poo bubbling on roads and ‘dreadful’ traffic

A UK seaside town where human poo can be found streaming down the street has become locked in a civil war of words.

Terrible weather over the last few weeks has done little to give the Cornish village of Portreath a much needed boost in positivity, CornwallLive reports.

Alarming problems of overflowing sewage and "dreadful traffic" is now being coupled with controversial plans for a holiday resort to expand and dwarf the traditional slice of west country living.

READ MORE: UK seaside town branded 'dirty, nasty dump' that 'makes Blackpool look like heaven'

Residents now find themselves locked in a protest against Cornwall Council's proposed development of new homes which they fear would make their home even gloomier than it already feels.

Self-styled 'El Prezidente of Cornwall' Scott Treloar is a well known face in Portreath having lived in his van on the opposite hillside from Gwel an Mor for over 30 years.

He said: "People up there don't spend their money in the village. We haven't got the infrastructure here for more building and second homes the sewage treatment plant gets overloaded.

"There's been a number of times when poo has been running down the street."

Last week it was also one of 25 beaches in Cornwall hit by a sewage alert issued by Surfers Against Sewage after storm sewage was discharged from a sewer overflow.

Elizabeth Gerrish says on Cornwall Council's planning portal: "Our village cannot cope with anymore strains on its infrastructure, the traffic situation now is dreadful with parking at its limit and so many more near misses and minor accidents.

"This is greed, we have many empty letting properties in this village – to add to this is ridiculous."

No one is arguing that Portreath isn't in dire need of affordable housing, like everywhere else in Cornwall, but those opposing the scheme argue it's in the wrong place – a haven that was once earmarked as a wildlife education centre, where badger setts sit next to historic bunkers.

There's such strong feeling about it that a councillor warned people to stop being divisive particularly on social media, claiming that many people living in the village who are in support of the scheme felt too intimidated to attend the meeting.

The effects of a wet day in August were evident when I visited on Thursday – you'd normally expect to see Portreath rammed at this time of year, but the beach was pretty much empty save for the odd hardy soul and a lone metal detectorist.

Dave Heard runs HQ Surf Shop near the beach but is seriously considering shutting for good due to a downturn in trade since the pandemic. "Another year of this weather and people aren't going to come back. People I know have stopped doing Airbnb now as it's dropped right off."

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