THE boss of a water firm which this year reported a £281m profit has pledged to launch an investigation into why repair works frequently left others facing “chaos”.

After listening to a litany of complaints from North Yorkshire council leaders, Bradford-based Yorkshire Water chief executive Richard Flint described the issues the firm faced as “a matter of grave concern”.

A meeting of Local Government North Yorkshire and York heard a major grievance for residents, who paid an average of £385 per household to the utility, related to the little or no notice given about mains repairs and lack of diversion information.

Committee members heard many complaints related to the unnecessary closing of roads and the off-hand attitude of contractors employed by the utility firm towards the inconvenience caused.

Richmondshire District Council leader, Councillor Yvonne Peacock, said parents collecting children from school often faced 15-mile diversions, care home residents missed out on visits while farmers risked missing auctions.

She told the meeting the firm often had ample time to remedy the situation with diversion signs, but failed to do anything.

Cllr Peacock said: “It’s continuous and this has been going on and on and on. People going to visit their mother with only a small amount of time and they get within a mile and then get told ‘hard luck mate’.”

The meeting was told while roadworks were a huge issue in rural areas of the county, there were concerns the utility was concentrating its investment on large urban areas to hit its targets, leaving market towns with poor pipes.

North Yorkshire County Council chief executive Richard Flinton said he had asked his director of highways to highlight any Yorkshire Water-related issues and received “a seven-page rant”.

Mr Flinton said contractors employed by Yorkshire Water had been rated the worst the county council encountered.

He told Mr Flint: “It’s the closing of roads without any need or without any permission from the highways authority that causes adverse impact on communities. He has now given me the whys and wherefore of how we are going to prosecute you for obstructing the highway.”

Mr Flint replied that he viewed the issues raised by the council leaders as being very serious, and that directing investment to the right areas was a tough balance to achieve.

He added its roadworks “clearly is an issue with narrower roads with the constriction that it causes when we come to fix bits of pipe".

Mr Flint said: “We clearly need to work harder at local liaison and local planning in order to disrupt the effect on the community.”