Work to replace a sewer pipe which had burst five times over the past year is now complete.

It took 20 weeks to install the 2.5 kilometres of pipe under agricultural land off the A629 road and Skipton bypass.

The ageing pipe, which runs from Yorkshire Water’s Bradley sewage pumping station to the company’s waste water treatment works at Snaygill, has been replaced by 2.5 km of modern, more robust plastic pipe.

Engineering specialists Mott MacDonald Bentley carried out the £900,000 project on behalf of Yorkshire Water.

Although the new pipe is installed and operational, workers have not been able to reinstate the area because of the wet weather.

Instead they will return when the weather is warmer, hopefully around April time.

Yorkshire Water’s project manager Lee Laherty said: “We’re really pleased to have reduced the risk of pollution to local watercourses by replacing this burst-prone pipe.

“The work is part of a £100 million investment to improve our sewer network and treatment facilities in order to reduce the risk of pollution incidents and boost the quality of treated water returned back to the environment.”