A street in Hampstead Norreys near Newbury has been given a comical new name.

A former ‘Water Street’ now sports some fresh signage. Some mystery artist has plastered over the street name with ‘Sewage Street’ along with a Thames Valley Water logo.

This comes as protesters rallied to call for urgent action over 'disgraceful' inaction that has led to 'cascading' sewage running into rivers and streams across Berkshire.

A rally was held at Victoria Park in Newbury on Sunday, April 14, and was attended by activists, actor Jim Murray, and a host of politicians.

People at the event held signs saying 'Thames Water stop discharging sewage into our waterways' and brandished emoji poo cuddly toys.

Resident Steve Masters said that the new street sign is a clever way to make light of something very serious that is deeply affecting the community.

“Yes, it’s quite amusing to have a sign like that, but the real issue for me is that this is a public health issue,” he said.

“We’ve got families where several people have spent time in hospital from infections that they’ve got from having to walk and live around raw sewage.”

“It’s no laughing matter, but I think the new signage is part of that British tradition of finding absurdity in adversity.”

Mr Masters said that in the 21st century, this is not something we should put up with, especially in a modern developed country like the UK.

He said: “Since the recent flooding, the raw sewage seeping into riverways is really affecting people not just in Hampstead Norreys but in surrounding areas including central Newbury.”

Mr Masters lives on a narrowboat on the Kennet and has done so for the past seven years, so when the river gets polluted it affects his home. “I don’t want my living space to be surrounded by sewage,” he said.

“At the moment I’m not able to move out of Newbury because the river is so high and running so fast.”

He said that the floods have damaged the canal infrastructure as well as the locks and a lot of debris has blocked certain areas.

Mr Masters, who is a Green Party councillor and running in the next election, said that what needs to be done is the water companies need to go back into public ownership.

He also said that we need to make sure that environmental agencies have all the powers that they need to enforce fines and the standards that parliament should be giving them.