THE basement of St Albans Town Hall has flooded for the second time in a month because of sewage problems.

St Albans district council (SADC) coordinated a clean-up operation in March after sewage filled the basement of the historic city landmark, with firefighters and Thames Water clearing it of four-feet-deep liquid.

Richard Shwe, head of community services at SADC, confirmed that a recent blockage in the main sewer that runs along St Peter’s Street into Chequer Street had resulted in a second “significant flooding” to the basement.

The problem also forced the temporary closure of public toilets located at the front of the Grade II listed building on Monday.

The Town Hall and Tourist Information Centre were unaffected by the problem and remained open for business.

Richard said: “This is the first time the toilets have flooded as a result of a blockage to the main sewer, which is managed by Thames Water.”

The toilets were thoroughly cleaned ahead of being reopened to the public yesterday (Wednesday).

Additional repairs have been carried out in the women’s toilets on a flush pipe to one of the pans, but that work was not connected to this week’s flooding.

The council has apologised to residents for the inconvenience.

Richard went on: “The public toilets are not the cause of the recurrent flooding. We understand that the cause is a recurring blockage in the main sewer.

“We have asked Thames Water to undertake immediate work to rectify the problem and prevent the flooding occurring again.”