Cheltenham burst water main caused by ‘workmanship issues’

  • Credit: BPM Media

A burst water pipe in Gloucestershire that closed schools and left thousands of residents without water was the result of “workmanship issues”.

MP Alex Chalk contacted Severn Trent Water (STW) after the pipe in Churchdown burst on the morning of 30 September.

It left thousands of people without running water while a number of schools were forced to close.

A number of schools in the nearby area were forced to close. Credit: Google Maps / PA

Nearly a fortnight on from the incident, Mr Chalk said STW blamed the leak on “workmanship issues” relating to repairs on the pipe in 2017.

‘Major disruption’

"After the massive water outage in Cheltenham on 30 September, I contacted Severn Trent Water for an explanation. It caused huge disruption to the town, and many schools had to close for the day – including Bournside, Bettridge, Charlton Kings Junior, Balcarras, Belmont, Warden Hill Primary and Charlton Kings Infants,” Mr Chalk posted on his Facebook page, with a link to ITV News West Country’s article.

"Plainly STW need to raise their game. They have assured me they have now improved their repair standards to include additional protection to bolts and fittings, which will increase the lifespan of repairs.

"They have further assured me that 'we are not expecting any further issues'."

STW confirmed the source of the burst had come from a section of pipe that had previously been repaired.

However, the service said the section had now been "fixed and reinforced" to prevent a recurrence of the issue, as well as apologising for the disruption caused.

A STW spokesperson added: "We’re really sorry again for the issues caused last month in Churchdown. After an investigation, our teams found that the section of pipe that had burst had previously been repaired, but has now been fixed and reinforced to help prevent it from happening again.

"Again, we’d like to apologise for the disruption that was caused and want to thank everyone again for their patience as we worked to get everything back to normal as quickly as we could."