WORK is set to start by the end of the month to divert a culvert in Darwen which has repeatedly flooded nearby homes.

The underground watercourse passes beneath homes in Granville Road, Westland Avenue and Manor Road in Darwen near Bold Venture Park..

Blackburn with Darwen Council has secured £175,000 grant from the Environment Agency to create a new bypass culvert on Granville Road and Manor Road.

The scheme will reduce the risk of flooding to 34 properties affected by previous floods and water damage.

Works to ease the flow to the existing substandard culvert will start later this month and be completed in early summer this year.

They involved repairing and replacing part of the existing culvert and providing a new relief culvert along the highway.

Cllr Phil Riley, borough regeneration boss, said: “Floods and heavy surface water in recent years have really affected these homes and we have been working really hard to work out a solution.

“This scheme will hopefully mean the homes don’t suffer the damage they have previously.”