Yorkshire Water starts Sowerby Bridge works two years early after 'powerful' stories from residents
Numerous Sowerby Bridge households have been affected for years, and over Christmas and New Year many did not have running water for days.
“Powerful” stories from Sowerby Bridge residents suffering from burst pipes and loss of water helped get Yorkshire Water boss Nicola Shaw to bring forward key works, the area’s MP has said.
Earlier this month, the company started the first phase of a £4.5m mains replacement scheme in the Calder Valley town.
Numerous residents had been affected for years, and over Christmas and New Year many did not have running water for days.
“Yorkshire Water provided bottled water to people and local businesses helped, but clearly it’s a massive problem that needed fixing,” Halifax MP Kate Dearden said.
Initially, Yorkshire Water had pledged to start the 18-month works in 2028.
But after hearing residents’ “powerful” experiences at a public meeting in Sowerby Bridge last August, organised by Ms Dearden, the Yorkshire Water CEO agreed to move them forward by two years.
The Labour MP had carried out a survey across the area, with around half of the 500 respondents saying they had experienced a loss of water.
One woman’s basement had been flooded three times and she feared for the safety of her pets.
However, following the meeting Ms Shaw agreed to start work this month, assess all compensation claims personally and set up a dedicated Sowerby Bridge helpline for issues.
Ms Dearden said this was “really, really welcome”, paying tribute to the “really powerful” stories put forward by her constituents.
The MP paid tribute to “local councillors have been really active and working with residents too”.
“It was welcome that we got those commitments from Yorkshire Water and it was a team effort in terms of people sharing their stories, contributing to the survey and coming to me to flag the issue,” she added.
Yorkshire Water said that the first phase will replace old mains in Wakefield Road, Canal Road, Woodhouse Lane, Copley Glen, Copley Mount, and Copley Grove.
The project manager Scott Gammon said: “As part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn largest ever investment into its infrastructure, we are delivering a significant upgrade to our clean water network - since April last year, we have replaced over 170km of pipework across the region.
“Our infrastructure in Sowerby Bridge needs updating – it has a history of frequent bursts, some of which have resulted in temporary supply interruptions for customers – and we have worked with local stakeholders to bring forward this work, which was initially planned for 2028, so that residents can start to feel the benefits much sooner.”
The first phase is expected to be completed in May 2027, with the remaining four phases still in planning. The overarching project is expected to be completed by October 2027.
Mr Gammon added: “We’ll be working quickly and doing everything that we can to keep disruption to a minimum whilst we deliver this important work, working really closely with the local highways team to co-ordinate work.”