A large part of Skipton’s Coach Street Car Park will remain closed for two weeks longer than planned.

Yorkshire Water, which has been building an underground storage tank in the car park to cope with sewage flooding in the area, had hoped the car park would be fully open by the end of July.

But unexpected difficulties and damage caused to the surface of the newly reopened part of the car park, has delayed its reopening by two weeks.

“We were planning to complete the scheme by the end of July and reopen the car park but unfortunately the site team have experienced difficulties causing a further delay of around two weeks,” said Dominic Cunney, project manager.

The £900,000 project started in January and for several weeks meant the entire closure of the Gargrave Road section of the car park.

“In order to reduce disturbance, we reopened approximately half of the car park in June but this was slightly earlier than we would have liked. As a result, the surface has been damaged in parts so we don’t want to rush the reinstatement of the section we’re working in now,” said Mr Cunney.

He added: “We understand the project is causing disruption but we want to assure residents and businesses we’re doing our best to keep disruption to a minimum.

“We hope you will bear with us as regular sewer flooding has occurred in Skipton over the years and it’s important we reduce this risk.”