NINE weeks of roadworks begin today in Bailiff Bridge

Work to stop sewage flooding homes on West Street in Bailiff Bridge will see the closure of the busy road today.

Yorkshire Water said the homes suffer from flooding with sewage every time there is heavy rainfall.

Rain water from the road goes into the sewer, overloading the system and meaning sewage backs up the pipes and floods people’s homes and gardens.

Yorkshire Water says it knows the closure of Wakefield Road will cause disruption, but that it has no choice.

Jonathan Lemoine, Project Manager for Yorkshire Water said: “We entirely appreciate that closing even a short stretch of Wakefield Road at this location will mean a long diversion for traffic heading in and out of Bailiff Bridge, and we can only apologise.

“We have worked with Calderdale Council and taken their advice about the diversion route, which will be clearly signed.

“It’s never good to completely close roads, but on this occasion we are trying to stop locals living with the misery of sewer flooding and we had no other option if our contractors are to work quickly and safely.

“The work will take around nine weeks and we start next week so the majority takes place over the summer holidays when traffic is usually lighter.”

Yorkshire Water’s contractors will be working on Wakefield Road at the junction with West Street and Victoria Road in Bailiff Bridge.

There will also be no parking on New Street for the duration of the project.

Traffic will be diverted around Bradford Road (A641), Whitehall Road/Leeds Road (A58) and Wakefield Road. Victoria Road will be accessible from Bradford Road and access will be maintained to West Street.

The project, costing £150,000, is expected to be complete in September.

It’s part of a £3.8bn investment programme by Yorkshire Water between 2015 and 2020.

The company’s network of pipes stretches for 51,500 miles and collects, treats and returns to the environment one billion litres of water every day.