REPAIRS to a water mains at a flood blackspot will come too late for the families whose houses were left waterlogged, it has been claimed.

Angry Blackburn councillors believe the latest flood in the Fishmoor Drive area could have been prevented if water bosses had taken action earlier.

Families were forced to evacuate their homes after a pipe burst and sent water into their houses this week.

It is the third burst in the area over the last few years and happened just before work was to start on the installation of a new mains.

Coun Jack Bury said: "I do think something should have been done earlier.

"It has happened two or three times. One burst should have been significant enough to prompt action.

"Pressure has been put on North West Water to remedy the situation.

"I am now concerned about the disruption to the residents with the latest flood escapade." His view was supported by Coun Jack Fairless, who said: "It has happened in the same place again and the council has tremendous sympathy with the residents.

"We feel the time has long passed when action should have been taken."

Seven occupied houses and five unoccupied houses were flooded in the latest burst, causing considerable damage to residents' property.

Independent insurance assessors and North West Water's insurance company have visited the site.

North West Water said it has had plans to replace the mains in the pipeline since the end of 1995.

A spokeswoman said: "It is not something that we have just started looking at.

"We had contractors on the site before the burst carrying out ground checks in preparation for the new mains.

"It is unfortunate that it happened before we could do the work."

She explained the company had to prioritise its repair work and following the drought of 1995 had decided to replace the mains.

Two PVC mains pipes, installed in the late 1960s, are now due to be replaced with one larger pipe over a 1.5km stretch.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.