£450k works start to prevent sewage flooding Thatcham homes in storms

Thames Water will spend £450,000 on protecting homes in Northfield Road which have recently suffered from sewer flooding inside properties and across gardens during storms.
The six-week project, which started on Tuesday, will increase the capacity of the sewer network.
Ninety-four metres of the six inch-wide sewer under North-field Road will be replaced with a larger 12-inch pipe.
The project has been arranged to coincide with work that needs to be carried out by Southern Gas Network and West Berkshire Council while traffic management and road closures are in place.
Thames Water’s head of programme delivery, Andrew Popple, said: “Sewer flooding is utterly miserable and has no place in the 21st century.
“Nobody should have to live with the fear of sewage coming into their home every time it rains. We are committed to putting an end to it.”
Mr Popple added that the road needed to be closed for the work to be completed safely.
“We’ve arranged that the council and Southern Gas Networks can come in and complete some of their works at the same time to save the headache of more roadworks at a later date.
“It’s joined-up thinking and it makes sense. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause as we carry out this must-do job.”
The work will be undertaken in two parts.
Phase one will involve four-way temporary lights on Bath Road, at the junction with Northfield Road and Matthews Close for about two weeks.
This will be followed by the closure of Northfield Road, from the junction with Chapman Walk to Bath Road, for four weeks.
West Berkshire Council chief executive Nick Carter said: “We are very pleased that, at last, this scheme is being delivered to alleviate the misery caused by sewer flooding, and that all parties will be working closely together to minimise disruption while this work is being carried out.”
The project is part of £350m investment by Thames Water between 2010 and 2015 to protect 2,500 homes from sewer flooding in its region.
It comes on top of news last week that the Environment Agency has pledged £700,000 for a scheme to build a flood prevention basin in Cold Ash Hill.
The aim of the basin is to store water at times of heavy rain, and control the release of it when water courses and sewers are able to take it.
Thatcham Town Council will contribute £40,000, Cold Ash Parish Council £5,000 and West Berkshire Council £45,000.
A final design plan is being worked on, but no date for the start of work has been agreed.
A number of basins will be built around the town as part of the Thatcham surface water management plan that was drawn up after 1,100 homes in the area were affected by flash floods in 2007.