ENVIRONMENT bosses have launched an investigation into drainage ditches downstream of a top private school, following complaints.

The Environment Agency says it is testing samples taken from ditches near Queen Ethelburga’s College, which eventually run into the River Ouse.

An agency spokeswoman said it was talking to the school, situated at Thorpe Underwood, near Green Hammerton, about the output into the ditches from its on-site sewage treatment plant, which it ran under a permit from the agency.

She said the plant was permitted to discharge 80 cubic metres of effluent into the drainage system each day, and the agency was talking about whether the plant could cope with current output and about a long-term solution to the problem.

She said the samples had been taken for evidential purposes in case enforcement action should be needed at any time.

School provost Brian Martin said there were 1.75 miles of ditches between the edge of the school’s estate and the Ouse, with discharges running into them from other properties in addition to the school.

His understanding was that the ditches had become clogged up recently by cuttings from hedges, leaves and silt from roads and fields.

The blockages, coupled with the lack of rainfall in recent months, had led to material from the school’s sanitation treatment plant failing to pass through the ditches as intended and developing a smell, which he understood had led to two complaints being made to the Environment Agency.

He said although it was not the school’s responsibility to clear the ditches, it had suggested and received the agency’s agreement to employ contractors to clear them in an attempt to resolve the problem. He said the school had expanded over recent years and it was possible that its sanitation treatment plant would need upgrading.