Villagers in Chalfont St Giles joined together to clean up a local area after a major sewage incident earlier this year.

Thames Water alerted locals of a category one sewage incident at its Amersham Road depot back in January and the untreated waste continued to be pumped into the River Misbourne until June.

As well as forcing parts of the picturesque hamlet to be fenced off for months, the incident also left councillors with no choice but to pull out of the Best Kept Village in Buckinghamshire award – a "difficult" decision that followed weeks of excitement and preparation.

The tables have now begun to turn, however, and though Cllr Robert Gill admitted that the parish authority’s liaisons with Thames Water had been somewhat unsatisfactory, he praised the village's strong community spirit for helping to lift it out of the doldrums.

Nowhere was this better indicated than a small-scale clean-up organised at the weekend by four members of the Misbourne River Action group and two parish councillors, aimed at clearing a path down the river between the village bridge and footpath to allow a freer water flow.

For over three hours on Saturday, August 10, the eight workers successfully cleared a channel in the river of overgrown plants that had spiralled out of control following the high level of nutrients in the waterway brought by the sewage pollution.

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By the end of their day of hard work, water was once again flowing freely through Chalfont St Giles and out into its dew pond – with a return trip planned within a week to finish the job completely.

Cllr Gill said the council had taken measures into its own hand and tested the water to ascertain whether it was safe for residents to enter for the clean-up day after a response from Thames Water was “not forthcoming”.

He added: “The effect has been amazing – over the course of the last few days, the remaining flooding on Stone Meadow has all but vanished and dried out in the sun.

“The water continues to flow, and in doing so is removing lots more of the river silt, so further improving the river.”

It’s not all good news though – with the village playground reopening last week, it looked like other fenced-off parts would soon follow suit.

But Cllr Gill said the local riverside walk and surrounding fields – which had been underwater during the sewage incident – had now been coated in a “thick layer of dried silt”.

“As this silt was laid down during the pollution, we have to keep these areas closed until proper testing has been undertaken and a remediation plan funded to return the meadow and the walkway to its previous state.”