'Yorkshire Water must think smarter': Robbie Moore MP responds to Ilkley road works completion
Roadworks which have caused “significant disruption” to a West Yorkshire spa town have been completed two weeks earlier than anticipated.
Earlier this month, Conservative MP Robbie Moore, who is the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said “serious concerns” had been raised by Ilkley residents about the management of the work being carried out on behalf of Yorkshire Water.
On Monday, a Yorkshire Water spokesman told the Yorkshire Post that it had completed work on the A65 almost two weeks earlier than originally planned. The project to connect the new development on Skipton Road began on July 27 and was due to finish on August 21. Instead, it was completed over the weekend, with the road now fully reopened.
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We know that our work has been disruptive over the last two weeks, and we really appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding. We’ve done our best to respond to complaints around the disruption by constantly manning the lights and changing the layout of the site, but mostly, by speeding up our work schedule so that were able to return things to normal much sooner than expected. Over the previous week, a second team from contract partners, Avove, joined the existing team to work on site simultaneously, and working hours were extended.
“Yorkshire Water also accelerated reinstatement of the road and brought forward elements of testing and commissioning the pipework.” The new development has now been connected to both the water and wastewater network, the spokesman added.
Mr Moore said: “At last, Yorkshire Water have completed their works on Skipton Road..But this whole situation provides clear evidence of the complete lack of oversight, project programming and urgency both Yorkshire Water and Bradford Council’s Highways Department applied in the first place...These works have rightly caused huge amounts of anger amongst motorists, simply because no one ever seemed to be on site working, despite huge traffic delays. “Yorkshire Water and Bradford Council’s Highways Department must think smarter. They must demand that all future works are undertaken around the clock to cause as little disruption as possible. I will not let issues like this drop, until residents and local business owners see clear evidence of improvements in the delivery of future works.”
A Bradford Council spokesperson previously said that the council understood the frustrations of residents and road users. A spokesman said Bradford Council had reminded Yorkshire Water of its responsibilities under the national street works permit and had been working hard to provide a swift resolution to the issue.