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The new development is only yards from the River Lambourn.

There was outrage today after environment bosses gave the green light for sewerage to be pumped into one of the most revered fly fishing rivers in Britain.

The picturesque River Lambourn in Berkshire has long been a favourite among fishermen, treasured for its crystal clear waters that provide a home to large stocks of wild brown trout and the highly prized grayling.

But campaigners say the 16-mile river and its inhabitants are now under threat after Environment Agency officials granted developers a permit to discharge effluence from a new luxury housing complex being built on its banks.

It was thought that waste from the cluster of 10 plush homes at Weston, around seven miles north east of Newbury, would be routed into the main sewer network and stripped of any harmful phosphates.

However developers Clean Slate said it would cost too much to do and instead proposed to discharge seven cubic metres of 'secondary treated sewage' - in which phosphates are still present - into the river each day.