South West Water has stopped the outflow of sewage which has blighted Tregoniggie Woods following recent heavy rains, and will be looking at more permanent measures in the near future.

Cornwall and Falmouth town councillor David Saunby has said he is "satisfied with the attitude" of the company, whose representatives met with members of the Environment Agency and a member of the Friends of Tregoniggie Woods at the site near Conway Road on Thursday.

Sewage started flowing out of a manhole cover in the middle of a well used footpath in early January, almost exactly two years after a similar incident just a few yards further uphill, raising concerns for users of the path, including children who use the path to get to school.

Mike Galligan, South West Water waste water operations manager, and Mark Allen, network service manager, said the company had taken measures to limit the flow of waste water down the affected sewer, which had been overwhelmed by recent heavy rain. This would ease the pressure on the pipe, diverting flow down another drain on the other side of the stream.

They said the company would investigate a more temporary fix when water levels had allowed it to carry out an inspection of the pipes, and in the meantime workers would be checking the area for any problems on a daily basis.

Concerns were also raised over whether the system, which currently struggles to cope when the weather is bad, would be able to take the strain if plans for additional housing at along Bickland Water Road are approved by Cornwall Council.

And the two South West Water representatives said the problems weren't helped by the number of points where foul water and rainwater drainage in people's homes had been badly connected, leading to the wrong water getting into the wrong system.

It was pointed out that not only could this lead to groundwater overfilling the sewage pipes, but it could also mean dirty water and pollutants got into the stream, potentially damaging the nature reserve at Swanpool

Mr Saunby said: "I am satisfied with their [South West Water's] attitude to the problem now. I think we are going to move forward.

"The last thing we want is to see this happen again. We've seen it before but I think they're making a big effort to solve the problem permanently."