Yorkshire Water has confirmed further delays to repairing a damaged sewer on busy Morris Lane in Kirkstall.
A burst pipe caused flooding on Morris Lane, between Abbey Walk and Hesketh Mount, on 9 October 2024.
It was hoped at the time that work would last around ten weeks and completed before Christmas – but engineers found the repairs more difficult due to work taking place 8.5m below ground and next to a mains electricity cable and announced in December that work would continue until March.
Yorkshire Water have now confirmed that the road will not reopen until early May.
A communication with Kirkstall’s councillors said: “During this work the existing pipe has been found to be in poor condition due to the presence of hydrogen sulphide which causes corrosion to concrete. This is gas that can naturally occur in sewers and is caused by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. It has a smell of rotten eggs.
“Therefore, further repair work to the pipe is required to help protect the pipe into the future. This will be by inserting a steel pipe and liner into the existing pipe. The new shaft will also need to be spray lined to avoid the same corrosion issues. This should ensure we don’t have to return and complete the work on this section of pipe again for a good few decades.
“Unfortunately this does mean the works are now expected be completed and the road reopened in early May 2025. This is still dependent on other unexpected engineering difficulties that may cause delays with the sewer repair and of course the work on the void once we’ve completed work on the pipe.
“After our onsite discussions in February this does include a week or two leeway as we’ve a more accurate timeframe on the pipe repair.”
The e-mail said engineers will continue working seven days a week, between 8am and 5pm.
It added: “As you’ll be aware we do appreciate that this work will be causing customers some inconvenience. Letters are being sent to the area and we’ve apologised for this. I’m sure you can understand the safety of our colleagues and the public is our primary concern as well as minimising disruption, where possible.
“Every effort is being made to repair the sewer and reinstate the road at the earliest opportunity and we continue to liaise regularly with Leeds City Council highways team.”
Councillor Fiona Venner (Lab, Kirkstall) said: “While this is clearly bad news, their new deadline does include some leeway if unexpected issues crop up.
“Their existing timeframes did not and councillors pointed out to them that this was flaw in the planning and the public would rather have a realistic picture of when the work is likely to end. We will continue to get regular updates from Yorkshire Water and attend site visits.”
- If customers have any questions they can call the Capital Customer Experience Team on 0344 848 1099 quoting Capital YW.205827 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am until 5pm).
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