HOUSES faced with regular flooding problems will be protected in a £2 million scheme set to cause eight months of roadworks.

Around 15 addresses in the Wordsworth Road area of Accrington, near Mount Carmel High School, are on United Utilities’ regular flood register as the properties have flooded with sewage water at least once.

The flooding is due to an inadequate and ageing drainage system which the company says is in desperate need of repair.

Torrential rain causes the system to overflow at key weak points. To fix the problems, United Utilities has now announ-ced a scheme to provide the area with a new system which would not only cope with torrential rain, but a ‘one in thirty years storm’.

An underground emergency overflow tank is to be installed beneath Mount Carmel High School’s playing fields, capable of storing 600 cubic metres when the system is under pressure.

To set up the new system, roadworks will take place in Wordsworth Road and parts of Fern Gore Avenue, Dunny Shop Avenue and Clarence Road.

United Utilities' project co-ordinator Mark Clinton said: “Residents seemed happy to hear that something was going to get done about the problems, even if it does mean ongoing road works.”

Work, which will be ongoing at Wordsworth Road for eight months, begins on Monday to co-incide with work being started on the school’s car park. In six weeks’ time work will then begin on the nearby roads.

Ongoing consultations and exhibitions have been carried recently with the school and residents in the area, using a mobile exhibition. What we are going to do is to try and keep people as informed as possible about where we are going to be and when, so people will know when the front of their property is going to be affected with regular communication.”

United Utilities will be sending letters to residents from the weekend with information about the first stages about the project.