Multi million pound project celebrated

The picture in this article is of Ian McCartney,Ann Rampling, myself, members of the Ashton sewer flood forum and representatives of United Utilities celebrating the end of the scheme to improve the sewer system in Ashton

Engineers have spent the past 18 months upgrading the sewer network to try and prevent a repeat of the flooding which hit parts of the town five years ago after exceptionally heavy rainfall.

Ian McCartney and United Utilities worked closely together to lobby the water industry regulator Ofwat for funding to carry out improvements.

Residents also played a big role in getting the work underway and regular meetings were held with the Makerfield Sewer Flooding Forum to keep them up to date with developments.

Ian McCartney, MP for Makerfield, said: “ I take great satisfaction that this project has finally been completed. I saw at first hand the devastation and misery that the flooding of 2002 brought to local people’s lives and I was determined then to bring about massive improvements to the sewer system. Together with local residents I have worked hard to ensure that United Utilities made the necessary investment to upgrade the sewer system so that local people should not have to experience the misery caused by the flooding five years ago. The culmination of that work can be seen today with the completion of this scheme. This is a very good day for Ashton. ‘

Charlie Cornish, United Utilities managing director, said: “We’re delighted that this work in Ashton has been completed and dozens of families should never again have to face the awful experience of sewer flooding.

“Preventing sewer flooding is a major challenge for United Utilities. We’ve spent millions of pounds on stopping flooding in recent years and want to spend even more in the future. “


The Ashton sewer improvements were designed to take into account proposed new developments, the impact of commercial premises and the physical geography of the area.

United Utilities has made tackling sewer flooding a priority and is spending £140 million from 2005-2010 across the North West.