REGARDING the issued raised by Councillors Michael Barrett, Mary Leaver and Simon Danczuk (Letters, January 27), North West Water has always acknowledged encountering problems which caused a delay in the completion of work in Blackburn Road, Darwen, and for which we apologise.

The project was delayed just before Christmas while we established the extent of the problems and the best method of dealing with them. Since Christmas, the work has proceeded well and is now ahead of our revised programme.

The project, which cost North West Water three-quarters of a million pounds, has been carried out to improve the sewer system for the people of Darwen. If the investment had not been made, the sewer would have been in danger of collapsing, leading to the road collapsing and far grater disruption.

This project is part of a multi-million pound investment that the company is making to improve the waste water system's infrastructure and improve the river water quality in the Blackburn and Darwen area.

Although it has been one of the wettest autumns on record, residents have not been experiencing floodings over the last eight months caused by North West Water. The first incident of flooding in September was caused by an intense storm which affected a number of areas in the North West.

Between October and January (four months) a number of households' cellars were unfortunately flooded. The owners were compensated under our Customer Commitment Scheme. They received full reimbursement of the year's sewerage charges, together with a cash payment of £75.

The local authority staff, employed by North West Water under a contract arrangement, helped residents clean up. The authority staff are responsible for maintaining the sewers on our behalf and are skilled in dealing with such incidents.

Also, the moment a problem with a small amount of waste material, next to the working site, was reported to us, the material was moved and the parents of the child concerned were contacted.

We fully appreciate that this project has caused delays and disruptions to both residents and travellers in this area. It is unfortunate that other organisations have also worked in this area in recent years and there is no suitable diversion for heavy traffic.

JOHN CHEW, Project Manager, United Utilities PLC, Great Sankey, Warrington.

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