The North of England’s gas distributer, Northern Gas Networks (NGN), is carrying out work to restore sections of the cobbled footpaths in Church Street and Henrietta Street in Whitby in the New Year.

The work is taking place following the upgrade of ageing metal gas mains gas mains in the town over 12 months ago.  Engineers from NGN replaced the pipes with modern plastic equivalents to ensure the continued safe and reliable supply of gas to customers in the area for years to come.

The work is scheduled to begin on Wednesday 6 January and is estimated to take approximately five weeks to complete.

The work has been carefully planned in conjunction with North Yorkshire Council to take place after the Christmas holiday period to minimise disruption caused to customers.

Engineers will be working seven days a week from 8am – 5pm in order to complete the work before the start of the school holidays on Monday 12 February.

Robert Hope, Construction Services Area Manager at Northern Gas Networks said: “We have been working closely with North Yorkshire Council to carefully plan these works and will be doing all we can to minimise any disruption caused.”

Robert continued: “It is intricate work and we’ll be working carefully to ensure that the new sections blend with the existing road surface.  This does take time but we’ll be doing everything that we can to complete the work as soon as possible.”

 In order to carry out works safely and efficiently it will be necessary to put a number of traffic management measures in place.  NGN has been given permission to close Henrietta Street from 25 January until 12 February, however engineers will be aiming to maintain access where possible.

NGN has been door knocking residents and local businesses to make them aware of the work and held a community drop in session at Whitby Fisherman’s Club on 22 December which was attended by local residents and North Yorkshire Council.  The session provided an opportunity for members of the public to ask any questions.  The road closure was discussed at the community forum and it was agreed that NGN would endeavor to provide as much vehicular access as possible during this time.

Robert continued: “We would like to take this opportunity to apologise in advance for any inconvenience this essential work may cause and thank members of the public for their patience and support.”

For further information about the project please contact NGN’s Customer Care team on 0800 040 7766 or email customercare@northerngas.co.uk

Anyone that smells gas or suspects Carbon Monoxide should call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. This line is in operation 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.