{"id":609076,"date":"2025-12-03T07:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/609076\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T07:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:24:15","slug":"11m-plan-to-investigate-beneath-merseyside-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/609076\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a311m plan to investigate beneath Merseyside roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

United Utilities said it had ambitious plans for three areas of Merseyside\"ViewsViews of Liverpool from New Brighton beach(Image: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

\u00a311m will be spent investigating the sewer network under Liverpool, Bromborough, and Birkenhead<\/a>. United Utilities said the work was to better understand issues as the water company looks to cut down on the number of sewage spills.<\/p>\n

Roughly 85% of sewers in Merseyside are combined sewers. This means rainwater combines with sewage when draining away, leading to more sewage spills in effort to stop waste backing up into people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n

The details of the investigation were revealed during a discussio<\/a>n over plans to dig up three roads in Wirral<\/a> at a Wirral Council<\/a> environment committee meeting on December 2.<\/p>\n

United Utilities, in partnership with the council, is looking to develop Beryl Road, Noctorum Avenue, and Ormond Way in what is believed to be one of the largest schemes of its kind.<\/a><\/p>\n

Around \u00a32.6m would be spent installing eight rainwater garden features as well as a traffic calming measure on Beryl Road. The costs of the scheme will be covered by the water company and will increase capacity in the area\u2019s sewer system.<\/p>\n

The new gardens are also expected to create a safer environment for all road users. Alongside the rain gardens, a new 550 metre surface water pipe will be installed to direct water away on Beryl Road as well as around 260 metre of work expected on Noctorum Avenue and Ormond Way.<\/p>\n

Mark Booth, United Utilities\u2019 Liverpool City Region engagement leader, said the changes were part of the \u201cmost ambitious plan we have ever had\u201d as United Utilities looks to work closely with Wirral Council on more schemes in the borough.<\/p>\n

Works to be carried out over the next few years include efforts to safeguard water supplies, fix leaks, and replace 950km of drains across the North West.<\/p>\n

Mr Booth said the company\u2019s \u201conce in a generation opportunity\u201d plans would support around 30,000 jobs as the company wants to reduce the number of sewage spills into rivers, lakes, and seas by 60% by 2030. United Utilities said it would then look at improving bathing water quality beyond 2030.<\/p>\n

He told councillors the company was investigating the sewer system in Merseyside over the next few years spending \u00a311m looking at issues underneath Liverpool, Birkenhead, and Bromborough, adding the company was looking at managing the equivalent of three times the volume of the Royal Albert Dock<\/a> to hit targets.<\/p>\n

With increasing issues like population growth, climate change, and the loss of green space, Mr Booth said the company needed to find greener solutions to pressures on the sewer network, adding: \u201cIf anything, it\u2019s probably going to get worse not better. There\u2019s no signs it\u2019s going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillors praised the scheme. Cllr Allan Brame said it was a win-win situation, while Cllr Steve Foulkes, who represents the area covered by the scheme, said it was welcome news.<\/p>\n

While United Utilities said it was surprised by the positive response to the scheme, Cllr Foulkes wanted to make sure people living on the road were fully engaged as it would be him \u201cwho gets it in the neck\u201d if there was any disruption. United Utilities said work is due to start in May next year.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, councillors also approved moves to introduce enforcement powers outside five schools involved in the School Streets programme.<\/p>\n

The schools are Raeburn Primary School, Liscard Primary School, Christ Church CE Primary School, St Albans Primary School and St George\u2019s Primary School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United Utilities said it had ambitious plans for three areas of MerseysideViews of Liverpool from New Brighton beach(Image:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,285,16,15,8881,9313],"class_list":{"0":"post-609076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wirral","16":"tag-wirral-council"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115654444633204057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}