Independent consultants will move in this month in a bid to stop sewage flooding into residents' gardens.

Independent engineers from the Baptie Group are being brought in by Bradford Council to examine Keighley's sewers after floods of complaints.

The company will discuss the problems with residents and hold a meeting with their representatives on January 17.

The Transportation, Planning and Design Committee agreed last August to bring in consultants, as campaigners pressed for action.

Councillors said they had been "going round in circles" with Yorkshire Water, and the only way to settle it once and for all was to bring in outside consultants.

Residents said sewage regularly burst out of manholes and flooded into gardens, particularly in the Steeton area.

They are campaigning for the drainage system to be improved, in view of the hundreds of new homes earmarked for the Aire Valley over the next five years.

But today Councillor Anne Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley) said: "The length of time this has taken is absolutely appalling. The decision was taken in August and in the meantime the problem has been continuing."

Executive member for Traffic, Planning and Environment Councillor Latif Darr said the consultants had been brought in as quickly as possible, but it was essential to get the process right.

Counting the cost as drain saga is resolved

A long-running dispute over a faulty sewer pipe feared to be a public health risk may soon be over.

Bradford Council has agreed to carry out repairs at Turf Court and Turf Lane, Cullingworth, despite a forthcoming court case to determine liability.

The Council will do the work, scheduled for mid-February, after Yorkshire Water approved the design and following discussions with residents.

The impasse was broken after the Council received a petition from residents regarding a defective sewer which causes flooding at 1, Turf Court.

Dr David Hughes, of Turf Lane, told the Council that residents faced "either raw sewage and surface run-off water flowing into their homes or the potential for it running down the road following heavy rains."

In a letter he said he accepted there was a problem over the legal ownership of the sewer but stated that he was tired of the 'legal ping-pong' that had been going on since January 1999 between Yorkshire Water, the Council and the water regulator OFWAT.

His concerns about public health are shared by Chris George, of Turf Lane, whose three-year-old daughter Freya suffered cryptosporidiosis two years ago - before the problem with the sewer .

Mr George said that, although she is now over the worst of it, he does not want her placed at risk by the possibility of disgorged sewage.

He said: "It is totally unacceptable to have raw sewage running in streets."

He criticised the 'economics of madness' which had taken up so much time and involved pumping out the drain at £80 a time.

Councillor Margaret Eaton (Con, Bingley Rural) who with Councillor Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) has backed the residents, said: "I think residents are happy and that the Council realised they were not going to go away and neither was I."

Councillor Jim O'Neill, executive member for homes and environment, said: "Because of the public health issues, we have made an offer to residents which has to be agreed with Yorkshire Water. Work could be sorted inside a month."

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said: "Bradford Council will carry out the work, however we will be getting together with the Council to discuss the best options. The problem will be resolved by putting a new sewer in by mid-February.

"The Council served us with a statutory nuisance order and the outcome of the court action will determine who pays for it. We will definitely be contesting this action as it could open up claims for lots of other people who think their sewers are public not private."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.