More than 1,000 fish have been found dead in a stream after a spill from a wastewater pumping station.

The problem occurred at the Southern Water site on Tile Kiln Hill in Blean, near Canterbury, on Tuesday.

The pump “failure” caused a spill which neighbours say led to their gardens filling up with sewage, as well as devastation to the local wildlife.

The Environment Agency says its officers recorded more than 1,000 dead fish along the 300 metres of watercourse that was affected.

A Blean resident, who does not wish to be named, noticed the issue when foul-smelling water, mixed with tissue paper, began to simmer up in his back garden.

The 43-year-old, who has lived 50 metres away from the pumping station for five years, said: “Every time it happens it accumulates under my house and comes up into my garden.

“I reported it at about 7.15pm, and Southern Water came to restart the pump two hours later.”

The IT manager soon went to investigate the nearby Sarre Penn stream, which runs into Blean Nature Reserve, and found Environment Agency staff were already at the scene.

He recalled: “The stream was a white, blue, greyish colour to start with, but then it got clearer.

“There were small dead fish floating around everywhere.

“It was a disturbing sight.”

The resident reports that similar incidents happen roughly three times a year.

While the wastewater in his garden bothers him, he is more concerned about the effect on local wildlife.

“It will have a big effect,” he added.

“We have kingfishers and herons flying down to eat fish from the stream.

“There’s badgers and newts - and it’s a conservation area.”

He says there was a power cut in the area at about 12pm that day and believes this could have been the cause of the problem.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We received a call from a member of the public reporting sewage in the Sarre Penn at Blean near Canterbury on Tuesday night.

“Our officers attended the incident and took water samples which have now been sent to our labs for analysis.

“We undertook a survey of the environmental impacts and recorded more than 1,000 dead fish along the 300m of watercourse that had been impacted.

“Our officers will continue to monitor the situation and investigate the cause.”

Southern Water has claimed that after containing the spillage, samples have come back clear.

Speaking on Wednesday, a spokesman for the company added: “Last night our Wastewater Pumping Station on Tile Kiln Hill, Blean, failed.

“Our team responded to the alarm and the pump was soon brought back into operation.

“However, the pump failure did result in a spill into the nearby stream and our teams unfortunately identified dead fish in the area.

“We are continuing to work closely with the Environment Agency to assess and impact and have followed their advice on the careful cleaning of the area.”

Suspected water quality issues can be reported to the Environment Agency on 0800 807060.