The figure came during a meeting in Skipton when the company’s head of corporate affairs, Tim Myatt, was grilled by councillors about what the company is doing to stop sewage and other waste being discharged into rivers and public places.

Mr Myatt, who himself was a senior Harrogate councillor for the Conservatives until earlier this year, said Yorkshire Water is investing an extra £180m to reduce discharges by at least 20 per cent before 2025. This is on top of a £147m investment to reduce discharge at its wastewater treatment works. But councillors said the company had not spent enough since privatisation in 1989.

Last month, the council’s planning committee refused a plan for 23 homes in Bishop Monkton following fears the housing would of exacerbate raw sewage being released into village streets during heavy rainfall.

The village has had problems of raw sewage in the streets

Conservative councillor Wathvale & Bishop Monkton, Nick Brown asked Mr Myatt how many reported incidents of sewage being spilled into Skipton & Ripon’s streets there had been in the last five years. Mr Myatt told him it was 600.

However, this only includes details from the main postcodes in the constituency area so the actual number is likely to be higher.

Coun Brown described the figure as “monstrous” and said more investment is needed.

He said: “600 incidents of sewage in villages and towns is unbelievable. I find the lack of investment over a period of years is partially to blame for that. In future, the investment must be made sooner rather than later in curing these problems.”

Mr Myatt said Yorkshire Water has had teams in Bishop Monkton this week looking at the problem.

Conservative and Independent Group councillor for Ripon Minster & Moorside, Andrew Williams, said the company has been providing an “effluent service” for customers. He added: “We raised the issue of effluent in the street in Ripon and received a fob-off. It’s not good enough.”

Conservative councillor for Settle & Penyghent, David Staveley, said Yorkshire Water had “stone-walled and come up with bad excuses” when faced with criticism from customers over raw sewage and other issues.

Mr Myatt said Yorkshire Water wanted a “step change in transparency”, including more monitoring of their infrastructure to help understand how to reduce overflows. He said he was aware the public wants the company to “vastly improve performance”.

He said: “We have invested since privatisation. It’s important to not think that pre-privatisation there was lots of investment and now there is none. There has been significant investment and improvements in certain areas.

North Yorkshire Council is currently putting together a Local Plan that will map out where housing can be built across the county. Mr Myatt indicated that Yorkshire Water would like to become a statutory consultee on planning applications and that the new Local Plan will help it target investment into infrastructure.

He added: “Knowing where growth is likely to be enables us to plan for investment and make the case for that in those areas.”

Raw sewage spilled into North Yorkshire streets 600 times in five years