Mains replacement scheme starts in Harrogate’s Duchy area

Yorkshire Water has today (10 November) begun a £1.2m project to replace over 2.1km of water mains in the Duchy area of Harrogate, to improve the reliability and resilience of the local network.  

The project will see the mains replaced with durable, flexible plastic pipework that will improve reliability of drinking water supply, reduce leakage, and reduce water main bursts in the area.  

Pipes on Kent Road, Duchy Road, Kent Bank, Hereford Road, York Road and York Road Rear will be replaced.  

Alex Spivey, project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “This 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, and just one of 21 schemes taking place across North Yorkshire in the first year - including others in Harrogate. The project will make Duchy’s network much more resilient and enable us to provide the reliable and quality service that customers rightly expect.” 

Contract partners M Group have begun work on Kent Road at the junction of Ripon Road and are expected to complete the project in spring 2026. 

As they move through the area, a mixture of temporary traffic lights and give and take traffic management will be in use to allow the work to take place and to keep colleagues, residents, and road users safe.  

Alex added: “We’re grateful to everyone in the area for their patience and understanding whilst we complete this important work. We’ll be working hard to keep disruption to a minimum.” 

Over 90km of pipework will be replaced in North Yorkshire by April 2026. A further 26km will be replaced in the second year of the investment period, across 10 schemes. Planning is underway for the last three years of the investment period. 

The wider mains replacement scheme forms part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn investment into Yorkshire over the next five years.