A £1.5m project to address sewer flooding in the Steel Street area of Gourock is to begin, Scottish Water has confirmed.

The work will also help to improve the environment in the area and will involve improvements made to the waste water infrastructure, which will reduce the risk of internal flooding that has affected a number of properties in Steel Street and Cardwell Road.

Currently, the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), located at the bottom of Steel Street, is unable to cope with flows during storm conditions and as a result, this leads to waste water backing up Steel Street and flooding.

Under the new investment, contractors George Leslie will install a new powered CSO at the same location. They will also upsize the sewer from Steel Street on 110 meter-long stretch of pipe which will increase capacity of the local network. Furthermore, the project will include the installation of a new 180 metre outfall from the CSO into the Firth of Clyde; this will also help to reduce the risk of the system backing-up and flooding.

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Work is expected to begin on the scheme on 9 June and will take around seven months to complete.

Mark Maclaren, Scottish Water's Communities Team Regional Manager, said: "Scottish Water is fully aware of the inconvenience that flooding can cause and we are committed to tackling this and to improving the natural environment so we are delighted to be starting this investment in our infrastructure in Gourock.

"These improvements will substantially reduce the risk of flooding affecting these properties and will help ensure that we provide a quality service to our customers there for many years to come."

Due to the work required, traffic management will be in place, while the project itself will be carried out in phases.

Mr Maclaren added: "We will do everything possible to minimise any disruption or inconvenience during this project but we are sure that local people will appreciate that any short-term inconvenience will be far out-weighed by the long-term benefits this investment will deliver."

(JP/IT)