Barnsley: £2.4m Cudworth pumping station to cut sewage discharges

Yorkshire Water said the work would be carried out on recreation ground off Barnsley Road

A new £2.4m pumping station is to be built in a Barnsley village to help reduce storm water sewage discharges.

Yorkshire Water said replacing the existing facility at Cudworth would increase its storm-water storage capacity.

The firm said it would cut the number of discharges from the storm overflow into Small Bridge Dike, a tributary of the River Dearne, by about 60%.

Work is expected to begin in the summer and be completed in May 2025.

Storm overflows are meant to act as relief valves when sewers are at risk of being overwhelmed, such as during heavy downpours.

In May last year, Yorkshire Water chief executive Nicola Shaw apologised to customers for discharges into the region's rivers and announced the firm would spend £180m in reducing sewage leaks from storm overflows.

Small Bridge Dike is a tributary of the River Dearne

Liam Thomas, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said the new pumping station would mean "the network will be able to collect and store surface water entering the system during periods of heavy and prolonged rainfall".

He said it would "significantly" reduce the number of discharges into Small Bridge Dike.

Yorkshire Water said it is working with Barnsley Council on the plans, which were in the final design stage.

The new facility would be built on the recreation ground off Barnsley Road to replace the existing sewage pumping station.