Work to replace a sewer pipe that had burst five times during the past year is now complete.

The ageing pipe, which runs from Yorkshire Water’s Bradley sewage pumping station to the company’s waste water treatment works at Snaygill, has been replaced by 2.5km of more robust plastic pipe.

It took 20 weeks to install the pipe under agricultural land off the A629 road and Skipton bypass. Engineering specialists Mott MacDonald Bentley carried out the £900,000 project on behalf of Yorkshire Water.

Although the new pipe is installed and operational, workers have not been able to reinstate the area because of the wet weather. Instead, they will return when the weather is warmer, hopefully about April time.

Yorkshire Water’s project manager, Lee Laherty, said: “We’re really pleased to have reduced the risk of pollution to local watercourses by replacing this burst-prone pipe.

“The work is part of a £100 million investment to improve our sewer network and treatment facilities in order to reduce the risk of pollution incidents and boost the quality of treated water returned back to the environment.”