Coach Street car park, Skipton, could be dug up to stop floods (From Craven Herald)

Coach Street car park, Skipton, could be dug up to stop floods

11:47am Thursday 1st November 2012 in News By Lesley Tate, Senior Reporter

A section of Skipton’s Coach Street Car Park could be dug up in a bid to stop flooding of nearby properties.

Yorkshire Water is currently talking to residents, businesses and Craven District Council about its plans to build a storage tank underneath the car park.

If it goes ahead, work will not start until next year and will involve a section of the car park equivalent to around ten parking spaces.

The water company said this week it was proposing the work in response to occupiers of Spindle Mills suffering sewer problems inside their homes.

It said it had investigated the sewerage system in the area and had decided the best long-term solution would be the building of an underground storage tank.

If approved, it will form part of Yorkshire Water’s £120 million investment in its sewer network and treatment facilities aimed at reducing the risk of sewer flooding which can happen following heavy rain-fall.

A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Water said if the project went ahead, it would not start before next year.

“We’re aware that 13 properties at Spindle Mills, Skipton, currently suffer from internal sewer flooding and we’re proposing a scheme to significantly reduce the risk of this happening,” she said.

“We have been liaising with Craven District Council in order to discuss the option of constructing a large underground storage tank in Coach Street Car Park.

“This storage tank will collect storm water during wet weather and hold it until it is safe for it to be released back into the local sewer network.”

She added: “Residents may see our contract partners, Mott Macdonald Bentley, surveying the area around the car park but they should note, nothing has been confirmed and once we know exactly what is going to happen with the scheme, we will contact residents, businesses and other stakeholders.”

Craven District Council confirmed it was discussing the project with Yorkshire Water and hoped to keep disruption to a minimum.

Hazel Smith, assets and project manager said: “Yorkshire Water have statutory powers to undertake preventative flooding works wherever necessary.

“This will cause some disruption to parking capacity at the site and we are keen to keep this to a minimum wherever possible. Yorkshire Water have given a commitment to work with us to keep as much of the Coach Street car park as operational as possible whilst the work takes place.”

Yorkshire Water stressed that it would keep residents and businesses fully informed.

“We would like to emphasise that once we have definite plans we will contact residents and let people know what we’re doing.

“We have already spoken with nearby businesses about the survey works and we’ll be doing everything we can to keep any potential disruption to an absolute minimum.”