A MINISTER says his church is being inundated with sewage water.

Tony Bickley says the foul leak is putting off worshippers as it leaves the car park flooded and has even soaked the stairs of the Ebenezer Reformed Church in Brighton.

The unholy stench has continued for several months without being repaired, and has been made worse by the hot weather.

He said that he has not been able to get a solution to the problem from Hyde Housing, which manages the flats above the church, or from Southern Water and Brighton and Hove City Council.

Mr Bickley said: “Sewage has been coming into the car park and into the building. Hyde Housing is responsible for the maintenance, but it keeps rising up in the car park, it’s been going on since the beginning of the year.

“They are just not doing anything about it.

“It means people can’t come in through the back of the building and have to go around the outside.

“The problem is really the stench. It’s raw sewage, in a great pool at the bottom of our stairs. It stinks.”

The church was rebuilt as part of the development of flats at Richmond Parade and Ivory Place in Brighton nine years ago.

The Ebenezer Apartments are built above the church, and the car park is below the flats.

Worshippers have been forced to walk around the building from the car park or face wading through the filth.

Mr Bickley said that while pumps had been installed to get rid of the mess, the underlying problem has not been solved.

A Southern Water spokesman said: “We were contacted about this issue in May and a team from our contractors conducted an investigation.

“The main sewer was found to be flowing and on checking the overflowing manhole in the car park this was found to be blocked.

“As this is a private asset it is the duty of the landlord or estate manager to arrange for the blockage to be cleared.”

Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “We are aware that an issue with sewage has been reported at the Ebenezer Apartments.

“Responsibility for fixing such a problem would lie with Hyde Housing and Southern Water, not the council.

“We have been liaising with both companies and will continue to put pressure on them to find a solution to the problem.”

Hyde Housing Group's Mark Warren said: “We are very sorry that our standard of customer service has fallen short of where we would like it to be in this instance.

"We can now confirm that the pipe is our responsibility and we will ask the council for permission to access it from their land to sort this problem out as soon as possible."