Campaigners welcome new £15m sewer

The new sewer aims to reduce discharges of sewage into the River Wharfe

Campaigners have welcomed the building of a new sewer, which is expected to reduce the amount of waste being discharged into a river in West Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Water has finished building the new £15m pipe, which is 2,739 ft (835m) long, in Ilkley.

The company said it would cut the amount of waste being discharged during heavy rainfall by a half.

The Ilkley Clean River Group, who have complained about sewage seeping onto footpaths alongside the River Wharfe, said it was "very happy" the work had been completed.

The pipe, which took 16 months to build, runs underneath the A65 from Wharfe View car park to Ashlands playing field.

It then crosses under the A65 to Ilkley's wastewater treatment works.

Yorkshire Water said the new sewer is one of a number of projects in Ilkley

Nicola Shaw, chief executive officer of Yorkshire Water, told BBC Look North the pipe would create "new capacity" to hold rainwater and sewage "when there's a storm".

Part of the River Wharfe was granted official bathing water status in 2021.

"It will improve the situation for the cleanliness of the River Wharfe in Ilkley, because we're taking sewage and rainwater from the centre of town south of where people bathe in Ilkley," Ms Shaw said.

Campaigner Di Lury said more work needed to be done to ensure Ilkley's waterways were sewage-free

Di Lury, from the Ilkley Clean River Group, said she was "really pleased" the new sewer had been built.

She told BBC Radio Leeds: "It's work that needed to be done in response to the fact we had sewage spilling onto the footpaths down at the riverbank.

"It's good that investment has been brought forward because originally there was no work planned here for the next 20 years."

Ms Lury warned, however, that more needed to be done to ensure the town's waterways were made sewage-free.

Yorkshire Water said the new sewer would be followed by further work to reduce discharges into the river later this year.

Water Minister Robbie Moore said the government wanted companies to improve

Water minister and Keighley MP Robbie Moore said: "It's good we have a bathing designation here in Ilkley, because that allows us to monitor the river and put more pressure on our water companies and so we can have more investment being put into the system.

"We've seen that through the £15m Yorkshire Water have invested and there's more money coming down to the pipeline."