Villagers kicking up a stink about sewage spread on farmers' fields in Hampshire are gearing up for action.

Residents of Micheldever have objected to the pong and possible pollution to surface and groundwater from the sludge - some of it from London- dumped on agricultural land close to their homes.

Now Micheldever Parish Council has invited Winchester MP, Mark Oaten, to attend a public meeting next Thursday (May 11), at Micheldever Station Community Hall (5.45pm), when they will air their concerns.

The meeting was to be held last February, but cancelled because of the sex scandal surrounding the Liberal Democrat MP, who went to ground the week it was planned. Neighbouring parish councils have also been invited to attend, including South Wonston, Overton, Preston Candover and Itchen Valley.

Clerk to Micheldever Parish Council, Charles Bazlinton, said residents wanted to gauge how widespread concerns were about pongs and pathogens possibly entering the food chain.

"Local people are not only concerned about the smell and nuisance during spreading; it is the possible build-up in soil and water courses of trace metals and medication that is also of great concern."

The Government is proposing to tighten up controls in the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations of 1989, which allow sewage sludge to be spread without the need for a waste management licence.

These include making compulsory a voluntary ban on spreading untreated sewage on farmers' fields. Half the sewage produced in the UK is recycled to agricultural land.

environment chiefs say this brings savings in fertiliser costs and improves the soil. They say the regulations ensure it is spread in such as way as to protect the environment, human and animal health.

But villagers are calling for council planning departments to get involved, for example, by issuing licences for sewage spreading.