Sandbach Town Council has been landed with a nearly £9,000 water bill due to a suspected leak.

The town council says the bill relates to a four month period and equates to more than double what the council would normally spend in an entire year.

Councillors were told at last Thursday's (29 April) meeting of the finance committee that they have been told by their supplier, Water Plus, that it is their responsibility to find the suspected leak.

Cllr Richard Hovey told councillors that the water bill was for 2.7 million litres which is more than an Olympic swimming pool's worth.

The chair of the finance committee, Cllr Alan Smith, said: "I think we need to pay the invoice but we do need to urgently engage a specialist in tracing leaks in order to trace the leak and ensure it's not doing any damage to the buildings and really to stop money going down the drain."

Cllr Mike Muldoon questioned why the water company would not come and investigate the leak themselves.

Ann Banks, the town council clerk, said: "They are refusing to come in. There are two agencies involved [Water Plus and United Utilities] and they're not taking ownership at all.

"We've checked to make sure there have been no taps left running on the market stalls; that there's no toilets flooded anywhere."

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Cllr Laura Crane also questioned the origin of the leak, saying it's a "huge amount of water" and there would be visible damage to the buildings such as the town hall and indoor market.

She added: "It was quite terrifying to read those numbers."

Due to the water metre being under a manhole cover, council staff have been unable to read it themselves, but the company had sent them a picture of the reading.

Cllr Hovey recommended that the council request that the water company install remote metre reading technology to allow staff to better keep track of it.

Councillors backed Cllr Smith's proposal to pay the invoice and hire a specialist plumber to find the source of the leak with the potential to dispute the bill if it's deemed not to be their responsibility.