New water main for customers in Ombersley

Severn Trent Water is preparing to start work on a £310,000 scheme to renew just over a mile of ageing water main on the Holt Fleet Road in Ombersley, Worcestershire.

The works, part of a larger programme of water main renewals in the area, are due to begin on 22nd March 2010 and will last until the end of April 2010. The water main renewal works were originally scheduled to take place in 2009 but were postponed in response to comments and concerns expressed by the local community. These concerns were mainly focussed around the proposed planned closure of Holt Fleet Road and the likely disruption this may cause.

Fraser Pithie, senior operations manager for Severn Trent Water, said: “In light of the customer concerns we received last year, we decided to re-evaluate our works plan to see if we could carry out these works in a way which would have less impact on the local community and the users of Holt Fleet Road.

“Following consultations with the Highway Agency, Worcestershire County Council and Ombersley Parish Council, we are no longer planning to close Holt Fleet Road to carry out the works; instead we will be using temporary traffic lights to manage the traffic during the works period. We will also be restricting work to outside peak traffic times whenever possible, and if work has to take place during peak traffic times, the lights will be manually operated to ensure any congestion is avoided or minimised.

“We hope that by keeping the road open we will minimise the impact on residents as well as general road users, and we hope to have now got the balance right in meeting the needs of our customers with the need to renew this water main”, Fraser added.

Bus routes that run along the Holt Fleet Road will continue to operate, with the bus stops being moved temporarily as the work progresses.  Provisions have also been made for the emergency services to ensure that all services have access at all times for the duration of the works.