Flood of investment

19/03/2007

Millions of pounds will be spent to reduce the risk of flooding in Durham, it is announced today.

Northumbrian Water is to invest £2 million to further upgrade and increase capacity of the sewerage network in the Newton Hall area.

This second phase of work, which is anticipated to begin in June 2007, will take around nine months to complete and will reduce the risk of flooding to land and some properties in Salisbury Road, York Crescent, Canterbury Road, Rochester Road and Rothbury Road.  This follows a £700,000 flood alleviation scheme which began in September last year and is now complete.

The first phase of work, which involved installing 550 metres of new sewer pipe, will reduce the risk of flooding to land and some properties in Lindisfarne Road, Staindrop Road, Dilston Road and Blanchland Avenue.

Andrew Blakemore, Northumbrian Water’s Sewerage Operations Controller, said:  “We appreciate that some customers in the Newton Hall area have suffered flooding in times of heavy rainfall and that this does cause distress.  The two phases of improvement work in Newton Hall will help reduce the risk of flooding to land and dozens of properties.

“We did propose to begin the second phase of this work earlier this year.  However, after further careful consideration the solution is far more complex and we have changed and improved the design of the scheme.  We now propose to install 1300 metres of new sewer pipe, in comparison to 300 metres, and to also install a 1600m3 storage tank (the equivalent of one Olympic-size swimming pool) in land adjoining Finchale Road.  The new sewers will be larger in diameter than existing sewers.”

Customers will soon receive a letter, and in the near future an information leaflet, about the second phase of work.  A customer information session is to be held in May 2007 to address any questions or concerns customers may have. 

For further advice or if customers have any special needs they should ring Northumbrian Water on 0845 717 1100.

It is very unlikely that anyone from the water company will need to gain access into customers’ homes while the work is being carried out in the Newton Hall area.  If customers are in any doubt of a caller claiming to be from the water company, they should not let them into their home.  They should ring the company’s customer centre to confirm the caller’s identity.