Essential work to reduce the risk of flooding to 91 homes and 17 businesses in Earby is now complete.

A £1 million culvert repair project started in the Lancashire town in July 2018 to make Victoria Clough structurally sound.

Culverts are structures which carry water underground. They were often built to allow development to take place around them such as roads, homes and businesses. Many people live and work near culverts and may not even know they are there.

A new 40m length of culvert has been installed using a technique known as pipe bursting beneath the disused railway embankment to replace the existing one which had partially collapsed. Environment Agency contractors JBA Bentley also lined a number of sections totalling 60m along the length of the culvert at locations under Victoria Road and the A56 Skipton Road.

A new and improved 2-tier trash screen has been installed at the inlet of the culvert, to help reduce the risk of it becoming blocked with debris and making it easier and safer to clear when water levels are high.

Paul Swales flood risk advisor at the Environment Agency said:

Earby has suffered devastating flooding over recent years, most notably the Boxing Day 2015 flood. We’re delighted that this project is now complete and will bring significant flood risk benefits to homes and businesses in Earby.

While we carried out this work, traffic management was in place for some time and delays were encountered, so we’d like to thank residents and businesses for their patience and understanding while we carried out this essential work to reduce flood risk.

Funding for the project came from £813k of Grant in Aid and £200k of Yorkshire Local Levy.