Water Main Replacement in Upper Street, Leeds

Over two years, we have invested more than £1 million in the Leeds, Kent, to improve the water network in the area as the community grows.

The entire project formed part of our commitment to invest more than £489 million into upgrading and improving our infrastructure.

Phase one of the project involved laying a 500 metre secondary pipeline in the area. The majority of this phase took place in private land in summer 2022. This work was vital to our ability to increase the amount of water that we can pump into the area as the community grows.

This phase involved short closures as we crossed both Upper Street and Burberry Lane to connect the new pipe to the existing network, and was finished on schedule.

Phase two of this project started late July 2023, and involved the replacement of approximately 535 metres of ageing burst-prone pipe with a new, wider water main. This new pipe will enable us to feed more water into the village and surrounding areas, and will protect supplies of top quality drinking water.

Summer 2022

Work was carried out in private land to install 500 metres of new water main. This phase of work was completed on schedule and required two separate week-long closures on Upper Street and Burberry Lane to connect to the existing network.

April 2023

We met with Leeds Parish Council and with parish councils from the surrounding villages to discuss phase two of the project and understand its impact. We also met with businesses including Leeds Castle and The George Inn.

May 2023

A public drop-in session is held in Leeds and Broomfield village hall, with more than 150 members of the community attending to speak with the project team. Concerns about the impact on surrounding narrow lanes taken away and discussed with Highways.

June 2023

A public meeting is held with over 100 community attendees. Following discussions with Highways, a network of seven additional road closures is proposed to prevent traffic congestion and to encourage motorists to follow the official diversion route.

July 2023

Work begins on this phase of work, and meetings with parish councils and local businesses continue to ensure we are able to provide support during the project.

Traffic management is established across the area with marshals on key points to deter non-residential traffic.

August 2023

A public meeting is held to review the traffic management two weeks after the project started, with more than 120 members of the local community in attendance. Where possible, tweaks were made to help minimise disruption to the local area.

The first section of main was installed using the directional drilling method.

September 2023

The hard closure on Upper Street was moved to Forge Lane, earlier than originally planned. This allowed the team the ability to undertake trial holes to see if more of the main could be laid using directional drilling, which was found to be possible.

A further public meeting was held to assess and review the impact to traffic flow following the end of the summer break and schools returning.

October 2023

Following the successful drilling of the remaining section of water main, the programme was reviewed and the end date for the works brought forward.

Work finished for this project on 23 October.