If enough residents complain about the "Berrylands Pong", the council could be forced to do something about it, according to an odour control specialist.

Stephen Toogood, an independent expert witness in court cases involving smells from sewage works, said: "The sewage works operator needs to do enough odour control not to annoy the neighbours.

"If neighbours are annoyed they should go to their local councillor because if enough elected councillors can go to the environmental health department and wag their elected fingers, the council should do something."

Thames Water is carrying out a survey at the site to investigate whether alterations are needed to cater for predicted growth in the area served by the sewage works.

A Thames Water spokesman said: "We'll take into account all comments from local residents that are made to us directly and passed on from others who receive them."

A local resident, who withheld his name, thinks part of the problem could be down to the closure of the sewage works in Worcester Park seven years ago.

The site has now been converted into luxury accommodation by St James Homes, the developer partly-owned by Thames Water, and that area's sewage is now processed at the Hogsmill works in Berrylands.

He said: "They must be processing double the amount of waste they used to at that site since the Worcester Park site closed.

"Also, it used to be a well-maintained site with trimmed lawns that was proud to open its doors to the public.

"They had open days for the neighbours and would let school groups and university students in to see what happened there."

Last week Thames Water refused to allow the Surrey Comet in to see what goes on at the sewage works.

But Borough Environmental Health officer Bob Smart said the amount of waste being processed is not unmanageable.

"The closure of the works at Worcester Park was preceded by a major upgrade of the Hogsmill works with the objective of coping with the increased flows and meeting industry standards," he said.

- Air pollution issues can be reported to Kingston Council on 020 8547 5536 or Edward Davey MP's office on 020 7219 3512.