Residents living in the Naddle area have been told that United Utilities contractors working on a major pipeline project linking Thirlmere with the west coast had ambitions to be out of the area by this time next year.
But Ian McCoy, stakeholder manager with the water company, told the December meeting of St John’s, Castlerigg and Wythburn Parish Council that it could not be
guaranteed as each landowner would have different requirements about the restoration of their land.
Mr McCoy told the meeting that UU had a five-year obligation to repair any defects identified and gave a commitment that “every inch of the land will be restored to pre-pipeline condition.”
He said that if landowners are dissatisfied with the restoration of their land, the date when contractors leave the area would have to be extended.
The meeting was told the £300 million project is continuing to make good progress and is ahead of schedule and will outperform the regulatory date of having water into supply by March 2022.
The pipeline from Thirlmere to Redmain near Blindcrake has been in the ground for the last 12 months and it has been cleaned and any defects have been rectified and it is has been flushed. It is now full of water and is ready to be used.
Mr McCoy was invited to address the meeting following tensions in the area over how much damage the project has caused to the valley and the condition that the land has been left in. The meeting heard that the local community was “completely dissatisfied” with how the project had gone.
It was raised that communication between residents, landowners and UUs had been “virtually no existent.’’ Mr McCoy acknowledged that there had been difficulties with contractors but said UU had now taken control of this and was working to ensure appropriate staff and financial resource was in place to address the problem.
Mr McCoy also reported that UU was about to start work next month on a 12 to 15- month project to return Shoulthwaite Moss, just off the A591 north of Thirlmere, into “a fully functioning” marsh.
He said a lot of work is planned including the removal of installed ditches, the blocking up of some existing ditches, so water is retained in the moss, and the removal of trees.
A member of the public asked why the trees had been removed, adding: “This is not as you found it. The trees have been there for 73 years.” Mr McCoy said he would bring environmental experts along to the next meeting of the parish council to discuss why.
He added that during the summer of 2022, UU will be working on reinstating boundary features back to “the same height and substance as at the start.” He said UU would be returning to any walls that had not been correctly reinstated to date.
Mr McCoy said that once UU was confident contractors would not be going back onto the land they would remove all access routes.
He confirmed that the email address the public should use for contacting UU about concerns with the pipeline is [email protected]
