£1.8m mains replacement scheme to begin between North Yorkshire villages

Yorkshire Water is set to begin the first phase of a £1.8m project to replace 5.9km of water mains between North Yorkshire villages Well and Bedale, to improve the resilience and reliability of the network.  

Work will get underway on Tuesday 27 May in Well, on Bedale Road at the junction with Church Street, and will progress towards Masham Road in Bedale. 

Nichola Fairbairn, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Replacing the mains between Well and Bedale will improve reliability of drinking water supply, reduce leakage and prevent water main bursts, helping us to deliver a better service for our customers.  

“This scheme forms part of a significant upgrade to our clean water network, which will see us replacing 238km of mains in Yorkshire by April 2026 - in North Yorkshire alone, we’ll replace over 90km of pipes.” 

The work is part of Yorkshire Water’s £406m investment to replace more than 1,000km of water mains across the region over the next five years. 

During the first phase of the project, for the safety of residents, road users, and colleagues, Yorkshire Water will be using temporary traffic lights which will move as the work progresses.  

The second phase of the project is set to begin in September, and any additional traffic management measures will be shared with residents closer to the time.  

Contract partners United Living are expecting to complete the entire project in autumn 2025. 

Nichola added: “We’ll be working quickly and doing everything that we can to keep disruption to a minimum whilst we deliver this important work. We thank everyone in the area for their patience in advance.”