YORKSHIRE Water work totalling more than £1m to replace the water mains network in Barnsley officially started this week - much to the delight of a local councillor.

Work started on Monday to replace 2.5km of the network in Monk Bretton as part of a £1.15m investment by Yorkshire Water to make upgrades.

Contract partners Galliford Try and Heffernan Utilities started work at Bryon Drive and Bodmin Court before moving onto surrounding streets.

Road closures and traffic management will be in place to keep everyone safe and access for residents maintained throughout.

A second team will begin mains replacement work at the residential areas of Bodmin Court, Sennen Croft and Truro Court with the same arrangements in place.

Shaun Chapman, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “This essential work is part of Yorkshire Water’s largest ever environmental investment programme and represents part of our £406m scheme to renew more than 1,000km of clean water pops across Yorkshire over the next five years.

“We’re prioritising areas prone to bursts to reduce the likelihood of future bursts and improve supply and reliability for customers.

“This is one of 16 priority schemes identified in Barnsley over the next two years including work already started at Jump, Cawthorne and Wilthorpe to replace 20.7km of existing pipework with a robust and resilient network.

Yorkshire Water has worked closely with local authority highways teams to make sure that temporary lights and traffic management are in place for safety and the utility is in contact with local residents to keep them up to date with activity in their local area.

Shaun added: “We’re working at pace to get this important replacement work completed as quickly as we can.

“On completion, the new clean water infrastructure will provide a network built to withstand high pressure and temperature variations, resulting in fewer bursts, lower leakage and a reduction in water supply interruption for customers.”

This phase of the project is expected to complete in early October.

Central ward councillors Nicola Sumner, Martin O’Donoghue and Janine Moyes told the Chronicle: “We are really pleased to see over £1m invested by Yorkshire Water in Monk Bretton to replace the water mains entirely.

“Yorkshire Water have chosen this location as one of the first to start in the region, because it is an older mains network prone to bursting.

“We know there will likely be a lot of disruption and inconvenience, as the main roads around the two estates are already busy.

“As difficult as these planned works will be at Monk Bretton, the work is much needed. We would ask those commuting in this area to allow more time for their journeys and to not use surrounding streets as cut throughs.

“On the other side of our ward on Heelis Street, there were two water leakages over the summer which caused damage to the road and disruption.

“Any improvements by Yorkshire Water are therefore welcomed and we appreciate everyone’s patience whilst the work is carried out.”