Work will start again in the New Year on the final phases of a major project to replace ageing metal gas mains in York city centre.

The project which commenced in June will see a total of 1.2km of metallic pipe replaced with more durable plastic pipes that will ensure the continued safe and reliable supply of gas to customers in York for years to come.

Engineers from Northern Gas Networks completed the fifth phase of the £750,000 project ahead of schedule in October, enabling them to move offsite and avoid disruption to residents, motorists and business owners during the busy Christmas trading period.

Work will recommence in Goodramgate and St Maurice’s Road from Monday 6 January 2014 and is expected to take approximately six weeks to complete. 

The final phase of the work will be carried out in Lawrence Street in the Spring, and this will take approximately four weeks to complete. 

Garry Farnhill, Customer Operations Area Manager said: “Every stage of our work has been carried out in close consultation with City of York Council, and we have taken every precaution possible to minimise disruption to residents, tourists, motorists and business owners.

Our highly skilled engineers will be working from 7am to 7pm to minimise the time we will be working in the area. However, in order to maintain access to busy streets during the day, it will be necessary to carry out some overnight work on Goodramgate.  We hope to complete these works over three nights, and will finish work by 11pm.

Due to the nature of our work, it will be necessary for lane closures to be put in place on St Maurice Road on 20 January and for temporary traffic lights to be installed.

Access for deliveries will be maintained throughout the work however parking for Blue Badge holders will be suspended on Goodramgate and Colliergate.

Mr Farnhill added “We would like to take this opportunity to apologise in advance for any inconvenience this essential work may cause.”

We will continue to keep our customers informed by holding a community forum on

7 January between 17:00 and 18:00 at The Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, YO1 7PR, providing an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions or raise any concerns.

Northern Gas Networks will also be re-opening its customer cabin on Deangate in the city centre in the New Year. Members of the public are invited to drop in to get the latest information about the work and representatives from Northern Gas Networks will be available to answer any questions that they may have.

The cabin will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11.00am to 1.00pm and on Tuesday evenings from 5.00pm to 7.00pm.

If you have any questions about the works please don’t hesitate to contact the Customer Care team on 0845 634 0508, option 7. The team is available between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, and 9am and 5pm on Saturday.

More information about our work can be found on our website and we will be sharing regular updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Anyone that smells gas should ring the national gas emergency service, anytime, day or night on 0800 111 999.