A MAN has accused the council of forcing him and his neighbour to pay a £7,000 bill to re-route drains that were leaking human waste onto a nearby grass bank since the house was built in 2005.

Wilf Moralee, of Stanley Crook, was served notice from Durham County Council (DCC) in March this year giving him, and the adjoining house, 21 days to solve the drainage problem.

The work was completed in May by an external contractor, instructed by the council, who have today told Mr Moralee he is partly responsible to foot the bill.

Mr Moralee lives with his wife and young family in the semi-detached house, which they purchased as a new build in February 2006, after all relevant building inspections were carried out.

He has documents from Northumbrian Water confirming the sewage pipes drained into the public sewerage system, however the company has since said that was based on information they received from Durham County Council.

“As I understand it the council should have checked that the drains led to where the architects said, but they have since confirmed that they did not check the drains and signed them off anyway," he said.

“The fact that they are the ones responsible for doing the check means that they should be accountable, they agreed everything was as it was supposed to be.”

Stephen Reed, planning development manager at DCC, said today (Tuesday): “This matter relates to building work carried out in 2005.

“The council has investigated the involvement of its building control service in relation to the work and is satisfied that the pollution issues which have arisen are not as a result of any negligence on our behalf.”

However, in an e-mail to Mr Moralee, Mr Reed said: “This investigation concluded that we did not feel that the building control work undertaken at the time of the relevant inspection was negligible to the extent that it justified the council footing the bill to undertake the required remediation works.”

Mr Moralee added: “I feel as though they accept they have been negligible, but not enough to pay the bill.

“I can’t afford to pay thousands, this is making me and my wife really stressed, I just want it dealt with. Before today I hadn’t heard from the council since July, and I’ve only heard from them today because I chased it up again.

“We are the innocent people that are an easy target for the council to pick on. I’m going to complain and take it to the Ombudsman if necessary.”