Scottish Water is to carry out a series of improvement works in Gourock.

The project will not only improve the local environment, but help to tackle sewer flooding in the Steel Street area of the town.

A total of £1.5m will be invested in the waste water infrastructure to minimise the risk of internal flooding to properties in both Steel Street and Cardwell Road.

The work will involve installing a new Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) at the bottom of Steel Street, at its junction with Cove Road, as the current system cannot cope with flows in storm conditions. As a result, this leads to waste water backing up and flooding the area.

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A stretch of about 80 metres of waste water pipe feeding into the CSO along Cardwell Road from Adam Street will also be upsized, as well as the sewer from Steel Street via a 110 metre-long stretch of pipe which will help increase the capacity of the local network. In addition, a new 180 metre outfall from the CSO into the Firth of Clyde will be installed to help reduce the risk of the system backing-up and flooding.

Contractors George Leslie will carry out the work on behalf of Scottish Water.

Work on the project starts this week and is expected to continue for 10 weeks. During this time, lane closures will be necessary. Temporary traffic lights, as well as a temporary pedestrian crossing will be put in place.

Mark Maclaren, Scottish Water's communities team regional manager, said: "We thank road-users affected by our road traffic management for their patience and understanding and apologise for any inconvenience.

"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 pleased to be making progress with this investment in our infrastructure in Gourock."

(JP/IT)