Three more Leeds storm overflow projects to get started

Yorkshire Water will begin three further storm overflow discharge reduction projects in Leeds in the next two weeks – as part of a £1.5bn programme progressing across the county to improve water quality in the region’s rivers and seas.  

The new projects mean a total of nine storm overflow improvement projects are now underway in the Leeds area. 

The three projects include: 

• The £3m installation of a new 250m3 underground storage tank on Spen Lane, at West Park near Headingley.  
• A £2.2m project to create 60m3 of additional storage in the network via a pipe nest solution at Sussex Avenue near Hunslet. 
• A £4.7m project to install a 250m3 storage tank on Jack Lane, also close to Hunslet. 

The additional 560,000 litres of storage created will hold excess wastewater, and rainwater flows during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall, preventing it from being discharged into the River Aire. Wastewater will instead be held and sent for regular treatment when heightened flows have passed. 

Storm overflows are designed to act as a relief valve for the combined sewer network, which carries both wastewater and surface water, during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall. They discharge when the system is at capacity to prevent flows backing up and flooding homes and gardens.   

The work on Spen Lane and Jack Lane will be carried out by partners Ward & Burke, and both are expected to complete in spring 2027.  

Contract partners M Group will be carrying out the Sussex Avenue project and are expecting to complete the work in September 2026. 

Daniel Rhodes, project manager for Yorkshire Water, said: “We’re planning to bring the number of storm overflow discharges into the river Aire from storm overflows in the Leeds are down by 72% over the next five years, and these latest projects are an important step towards achieving that.” 

Storm overflow discharge reduction projects are also on track at: 

• Millshaw storm overflow in Beeston, reducing discharges into Mill Shaw Beck 
• Headingley Station storm overflow, reducing discharges into the River Aire 
• Village Place storm overflow in Burley, reducing discharges into the River Aire 
• Fraser Avenue in Horsforth, reducing discharges into the River Aire 
• Stourton, reducing discharges into the River Aire 
• Wyther Lane in Kirkstall, reducing discharges into the River Aire 

The work in Leeds forms part of the utility’s £1.5bn storm overflow investment project between 2025 and 2030, across over 450 overflows, and follows a £180m investment over the previous two years that helped to reduce discharges to the region’s watercourses by 12% in 2024 compared to 2023. 

The storm overflow programme is part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn investment into its services and the environment over the next five years.