On Wednesday afternoon (30 July), Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Ashok Kumar, and Iain Wright MP the Member for Hartlepool and a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government visited works to view the progress of flood control measures in the Pine Road area of Guisborough.

Ashok said “Flooding after heavy rain had been a long standing problem in the Pine Road and Bolckow Street area of the town and after being contacted by residents I put pressure on Northumbrian Water to bring forward their programme for sewer improvement and rain-water run-off facilities.  This has paid off with work now well underway, and I want to pay thanks to both John Cuthbert, Northumbrian Waters Managing Director and John Mowbray their head of Corporate Affairs for their help in solving this problem.”

“The works are being managed in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and I wanted Iain Wright, as a Local Government and Planning Minister, to see how this partnership between Northumbrian Water, the council and local Labour ward councillors has paid off for local people who will no longer have to live in fear of winter flooding”.  

Northumbrian Water have invested £3 million to upgrade this sewerage. The work  involves upgrading 1500 metres of sewer pipe and the construction of a screened combined sewer overflow. Northumbrian Water say that in times of heavy rainfall the quantity of rainwater entering the sewerage network had resulted in flooding to properties in Pine Road and Bolckow Street and that this improvement work will significantly reduce the risk of flooding to these properties.