NEWS – Falmouth gas pipe work to begin

The £377,000 upgrade work, in the Avenue Road area, will start on 4 October and is essential to keep the gas flowing safely to heat and power local homes and businesses. It involves upgrading nearly 2 kilometres of gas pipes and, barring any engineering difficulties, is due to finish in March next year.

To keep disruption to a minimum, Wales & West Utilities has worked closely with Cornwall Council to plan the work. So that engineers and the local community are kept safe during the work it has been agreed that traffic management will be used throughout the scheme, including:

• 4-way traffic lights on Avenue Road, Melvill Road and Gyllyngvase Road between 4 October – 8 November
• 2-way rolling lights along Avenue Road between 9 November – 28 January 2022
• A road closure on Lansdown Road from 22 November – 6 December. A diversion route will be clearly signposted

Additional traffic management will be in place between December and March 2022. As the work progresses, the company will keep local people updated on their plans.

Wales & West Utilities Roxanne Whittaker is managing this gas pipe upgrade work. She said:

“While most of the gas network is underground and out of sight, it plays a central role in the daily lives of people across Falmouth. Whether it’s heating your home, making the family dinner or having a hot bath, we understand how important it is for your gas supply to be safe and reliable and there when you need it.

“This work is essential to keep the gas flowing to local homes and businesses today, and to make sure the gas network is ready to transport hydrogen and biomethane, so we can all play our part in a green future. 

“We will work as safely and as quickly as possible to finish the work, whilst keeping inconvenience to a minimum for local people and road users. Our engineers are following all hygiene and social distancing guidelines and we would respectfully ask that you keep a 2-metre distance if passing our work site.

“As we make progress through this work, we’ll keep local people updated on our plans.”

Wales & West Utilities teams will follow clear guidelines to keep themselves and local people safe. This includes:

• Before entering customer’s homes, engineers will wash their hands with soap and water.
• While in customer’s homes, they’ll wear face coverings and eye protection, and may ask anyone else in the house to stand in another room while they are working
• When working in the street, they’ll social distance as far as possible, and would urge local people who may be passing to keep 2 metres away from work sites

Our Customer Service Team is ready to take your call if you have any questions about our work. You can contact them on freephone 0800 912 2999 or enquiries@wwwutilities.co.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact us on Twitter @WWUtilities or Facebook.com/WWUtilities.

Wales & West Utilities, the gas emergency and pipeline service, brings energy to 7.5m people across the south west of England and Wales. If you smell gas, or suspect the presence of carbon monoxide, call us on 0800 111 999 straight away, and our engineers will be there to help any time of day or night. Before visiting, we’ll ask you to let us know if you or anyone in your household, is experiencing Coronavirus symptoms or self-isolating. We’ll still come and help you: but our teams will take some additional precautions to keep us all safe.