£3.6 Million Of Permanent Improvements Underway At Goole's Carr Lane Pumping Station

Below is the full Press Release relating to the investment at Goole's Carr Lane Pumping Station


A £3.6 million project is underway to permanently increase the pumping capacity at Yorkshire Water's Carr Lane pumping station in Goole.

Two new storm assist pumps, which have a combined pumping capacity of 1400 litres a second, are being installed inside the plant, with the first of these already in place and currently undergoing rigorous testing.

The second of these will be installed later in the year, increasing the overall pumping capacity of the site by approximately 20%.

The two permanent pumps will replace the temporary ones which have been in place outside the plant since last September. These will be removed in phases, from the middle of May onwards, ensuring that the additional 20% pumping capacity is maintained at all times.

From September, work is also expected to begin on a second permanent underground storm main running 800 meters from the plant to the Humber Estuary.

This is expected to take 20 weeks to complete and will replace the temporary second storm main which was created last July.

Michael Ward, project manager for Yorkshire Water, said: "We promised to make permanent improvements to the plant's pumping capacity, and it's overall robustness, and that's exactly what we're doing through this £2 million project.

"The two additional storm assist pumps will boost the plant's overall pumping capacity by a fifth, whilst the introduction of a second permanent storm main will significantly boost the site's resilience and robustness.

"We'd like to thank local residents for all the patience they've shown so far, and reassure them we'll be doing everything we can to reduce disruption and noise whilst this vital improvement work is taking place."

The company has also confirmed that it's £275,000 study into the town's sewerage network is progressing well, with preliminary findings expected to be available to the public towards the end of the year.

The study is being carried out alongside East Riding of Yorkshire Council, who are currently investing £80,000 to understand how flood water moves on the surface and how Goole's drainage system interacts with surrounding agricultural land.

To build up a picture of just how Goole's sewer system responds under different weather conditions, Yorkshire Water has installed 85 flow monitors and more than a dozen depth gauges along its underground network.

The results and insights from this will help to accurately inform any potential future investment by all parties, ensuring any future improvements are made where they are most needed.

The company continues to fully support East Riding of Yorkshire Council with its report into the causes of flooding in Goole last July, with the report expected to be complete by mid-July.

For more information on Yorkshire Water's investment in Goole, visit www.yorkshirewater.com/goole

MP Steps Into Shoes Of Call Centre Workers At Yorkshire Water Visit

An MP sat with customer advisors and listened into calls at Yorkshire Water’s sister company and contact centre, Loop, today (Friday 3 May 2013).

MP for Pudsey, Stuart Andrew (Con) toured the contact centre, which is based in Thornbury and employs over 700 people, before listening into calls himself.

Mr Andrew has a particular interest in securing jobs in his constituency, especially for young people, and is delighted to be visiting a major employer.

“Loop has a reputation as a great place to work having won numerous awards and employs a large number of young people so I was keen to find out more about what they do and the important service they deliver.

“And there’s no better way of getting to know what’s going on than getting involved and doing the job for a short while,” says Mr Andrew.

Helen Philips, Chairman of Loop and Director of Customer Service and Networks for Yorkshire Water says: “It’s great that we have the opportunity to show Mr Andrew the exciting work that’s going on in his constituency.

“Loop employs more than 700 people so is a major force in the area and we’re keen to hear what he thinks about both our call centre and about the wider role we play in his constituency.”

Loop has won a number of major awards for being a great quality place to work, including recently being voted in the top 30 employers for working parents according to The Top Employers for Working Families and in the top 3 for working mothers.

The contact centre answers 32,000 calls a week from all over the county and deals with all contacts to Yorkshire Water, including calls about bills and from people reporting leaks.

Rallying round to help a local motor club

When a venue used by the organisers of an annual motoring event became unavailable they requested

Photo courtesy of Mr. Wayne Scurrah

 our assistance.

Ilkley and District Motor Club organise the Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally for cars from the sixties and seventies and the event consists of a number of navigational and driving challenges in and around the scenic Yorkshire Dales. On the public roads the navigator has to guide their driver along the correct route, while on private property a number of driving tests are held to test the driver’s ability.

It is one of the driving test venues that has become unusable as the winter (and summer!) weather has made the condition of the venue unsuitable for the cars.

Clerk of the Course of the event Henry Carr ‘We are extremely grateful of the time and effort everyone at Yorkshire Water has been in helping us out and the new venue for the event will provide an excellent test for both the driver and the navigator’

The event has been organised by Ilkley and District Motor Club since 1991 and attracts a great variety of historic cars from the sixties and seventies. MG, Austin-Healey, Triumph, Mini-Cooper, Ford, Sunbeam, Alfa, Lancia, Volvo, Saab and Porsche are all usually well represented in the entry with the cars coming to Yorkshire for the weekend of the event from all parts of the UK to participate.

Our Catchment and Recreation Manager Geoff Lomas ‘We always look to help the local community with their leisure activities where we can and on this occasion we have been able to help a local motor club with this prestigious sporting event and as a result also give the local economy a boost which the event brings to the region ’

The event is on Sunday 21st April and is based at the Craven Cattle Market in Skipton where the cars will be on show from 08:00 and the first driving test starts at 08:45. More details on the event website www.jubilee-rally.org.

Hands Up gets off to a flyer

Last week saw the launch of our fantastic new volunteering initiative 'Hands Up' which was marked by the planting of a giant organic hand that will create a spectacular visual legacy for everyone to enjoy.

The giant 20 metre-long hand, made up of 3,000 flowers, was planted by 150 volunteers at RSPB Fairburn Ings and Selby and Ansty MP, Nigel Adams, together with our chief executive, Richard Flint, planted the first bulb on a day filled with free family fun.

Anne Reed, who co-ordinates our volunteering programme, reflected on the event: “We had a fantastic day and were really pleased with the number of people who turned up to plant a few bulbs and have fun with us.

“Volunteering is a very important part of what we do at Yorkshire Water and the Kelda Group, and all of our staff are empowered to volunteer in their local community.

“Our corporate vision is taking responsibility for the water environment for good, but we don’t just do that through supplying drinking water and taking care of sewage.

“It’s really important to us to give something back to the communities we operate in, and, while symbolic, the work we have done here will play an important part in supporting the biodiversity that already thrives at Fairburn Ings.”

'The Big Hand Plant' as we named it, will help increase the biodiversity of plants at the reserve. Native species such as cornflower, field forget-me-not, meadow cranesbill and field scabious plugs were planted as they are proven to attract bumblebees - a species in decline - and butterflies, moths and hoverflies, which will in turn act as food source for other species such as birds and bats.

Later in the year, seeds from the flowers will provide food for a range of other species like woodmice and birds.

As well as taking part in a first for Castleford, there was family fun and activities for everyone including face painting and balloon sculpting, as well as light refreshments and a free seedbomb and planting seedpaper stencil for everyone who turned up.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: "I'm delighted to support this new and exciting volunteering initiative, which will make a huge difference to communities, charities and the local environment

To see the pictures that were taken on the day, visit our Flickr account

Improvements at one of Yorkshire’s oldest reservoirs

We are about to start work on important maintenance work at Redmires middle reservoir in Sheffield as part of a £60m regional programme of improvements.

The reservoir is one of the oldest we own and was completed around 1836. It is one of a group of three reservoirs to the west of Lodge Moor.

The work will begin on April 8th and involve engineering specialists Mott MacDonald Bentley improving the 80-metre outlet tunnel that runs between the embankment of Redmires middle and lower reservoirs.

The surface area of the reservoir is 194,000m2 and its capacity is nearly one million cubic metres when full.

The middle reservoir will be emptied for the duration of the work and the water level in the lower reservoir will also be drawn down by 6 metres to enable safe access to the tunnel. Both reservoirs will be left to fill up naturally after the work is complete.

There will be two points of access from Redmires Road for site traffic.

Public access to the crest and bottom of the Redmires middle and lower reservoirs will continue to be restricted during these works for safety reasons.

Tom Cochrane who is managing the project said: "It's vital that we carry out this work at Redmires reservoir in order to ensure the tunnel continues to perform its role effectively.”

"We will try to keep any disruption to local residents and site users to an absolute minimum and we'd like to reassure all interested parties that we'll do everything we can to complete this work as quickly and efficiently as possible,” he added.

The project should be complete by the end of August 2013.

'Hands Up' for our exciting new volunteering initiative

We are currently on the hunt for a hardy band of 300 volunteers to help us launch a major new volunteering initiative which will help make a positive and lasting difference to the environment and people's lives.

The 'budding' volunteers are needed to help plant 3,000 native flowers in the shape of a giant hand at Fairburn Ings nature reserve, Castleford, one of West Yorkshire's most picturesque locations, on Friday 12 April between 10am and 3pm.

The blooming hand is being created to mark the launch of the our 'Hands Up' initiative, which will see our employees working with local communities to make a positive difference to the region's natural environment through projects such as habitat creation and restoration challenges and bio-diversity booster schemes.

We have also teamed up with local partners to help boost the impact of the initiative with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Aire Rivers Trust already on board.

Hands Up is also aimed at inspiring and educating people about the value of water as a local and global resource and showing how everyone can be water-wise and play their part in increasing access to this precious resource in developing countries.

Anne Reed who is project managing the initiative for Yorkshire Water said "As one of the region's biggest employers, we recognise that we're in a great position to make a huge difference to the environments we operate in and the communities we serve.

"Our new Hands Up initiative is part of mission to help protect our water resources and enhance the water environment in our region for present and future generations.

"We've got some big plans to help revitalise green spaces, starting with Fairburn Ings nature reserve in Castleford. We're also going to be working hard to educate everyone about the value of water and how they can protect what is a vital resource.

"Now all we need is some local volunteers to put their hands up to help us create a stunning 'Big Hand Plant', so if you fancy doing something different, or are looking for ideas for a day out with the kids, why not come along and be part of this amazing project."

When complete, the Big Hand Plant will help increase the biodiversity of plants at the reserve. Native species such as cornflower, field forget-me-not, meadow cranesbill and field scabious plugs will be planted as they are proven to attract bumblebees - a species in decline - and butterflies, moths and hoverflies, which will in turn act as food source for other species such as birds and bats. Later in the year, seeds from the flowers will provide food for a range of other species like woodmice and birds.

As well as taking part in a first for Castleford, there will be family fun and activities for everyone including face painting and balloon sculpting, as well as light refreshments and a free seedbomb and planting seedpaper stencil for everyone who turns up.

To guarantee your place and find out more, simply register online at yorkshirewater.com/handsup The location for the challenge is RSPB Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve, Newton Lane, Ledston, Castleford, WF10 2BH.

You can keep up to date on how the launch is going and see pictures live from the event by following us on Twitter @yorkshirewater or by using the hashtag #handsup

Utilities Combine Forces To Build A Better North

We are delighted to be joining forces with 3 other major UK utilities to boost the fortunes of two of the hardest hit regional economies through a £21bn package of network improvements over the next ten years in Yorkshire and the North East.

In what will be our biggest ever combined programme of capital and operational expenditure, we will be working with Northumbrian Water, Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid to invest more than £5.7 million a day.
The money will be spent on vital improvements to ensure our water, electricity and gas networks are best placed to cope with the fresh challenges presented by climate change and population growth and affordability.

Population growth is expected to mean there will be more than a million more people living in Yorkshire and the North East by 2035.  At the same time, climate projections reinforce the picture of change and uncertainty with both droughts and floods occurring in 2012, and scientists predicting that these trends will continue with longer, hotter dry spells and more extreme weather events.

The Government has applauded this investment, with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander praising all four companies for 'helping us take steps towards recovery’.

His comments are supported by an independent report by Leeds University and Edge Analytics into the economic value of water and energy assets to the North of England, which calculates that for every £100 of capital and operational expenditure by the four utilities, a further £93 is generated within the wider northern regional economy.

This means that the combined spending of £21bn by the four utility companies - which cover nearly a fifth of all the land in England (24,000 sq km) and serve a population of eight million customers - will, thanks to this supplier/employee ripple effect, create over £40bn of economic activity over the next ten years in Yorkshire and the North East.

The report states that 'set against this harsh economic backdrop, the activities of industries such as water and energy infrastructure are more valuable than ever.....as it’s larger in scale and more regionally focussed than that of most businesses’.  It also determines that such investment provides an anchor point for businesses battling to say afloat or to grow and a lifeline for communities as they attempt to replace jobs lost in others sectors with new ones.

Our Chief Executive Richard Flint commented: "As four of the biggest utilities in England, we don't just pump water and energy into our regions; we also pump millions of pounds into the local economy.
"As major regional employers, we'll be investing more than £5.7 million a day in our respective regions, improving our networks and ensuring our customers continue to receive the high quality service they've come to expect from us. 

"This investment is all the more vital as we face into some of the major challenges of the day, including climate change, population growth and the issue of affordability.

“These place extra pressure on us to maintain reliable water and energy supplies and manage these resources more efficiently as we cope with shortages and excesses, whilst at the same time keeping bills as low as possible during these times of austerity."

To read the full report, visit infrastructurenorth.co.uk