Superpipe work hit by delays, firm says
Work to bury a two-mile-long pipe in a trench under the sea at Anchorsholme has been delayed, United Utilities said.
The huge outfall pipe – the biggest in the UK – should have been buried by now, but engineers working on the multi-million pound project to improve Blackpool’s bathing water say progress has been hindered by choppy sea conditions in recent days.
The pipe was also caught on a mound of earth – left over from digging the trench – when workers tried to pull it straight, though it has not been damaged, the firm said.
The pipe is not set to work for another 18 months, a spokesman added, while the work is ‘not time sensitive’.