Work to cut sewage spills nears completion

A giant underground tank designed to cut sewage spills into a local watercourse is taking shape as a major infrastructure project reaches a key milestone.

Yorkshire Water said work beneath the Brushes allotment site on Vickers Road in Sheffield, was about two-thirds finished and remained on track for completion in summer 2027.

The £3.2m scheme sparked concern in January when a community charity feared it could struggle to survive after being forced to leave the site while construction took place.

Yorkshire Water said it had worked with Sheffield City Council to relocate allotment tenants where possible, while storing equipment for others until the site could be handed back.

In January the Friends of Firth Park Community Allotments warned its future was uncertain after Yorkshire Water announced plans to build a storm overflow storage tank on the allotment occupied by the charity.

The charity, which has worked from the site for about 20 years, raised concerns over compensation, funding and the impact of an 18-month break in its activities.

The tank, which measures 15m (49ft) in diameter and extends 17m (56ft) below ground, will be capable of holding 1.5 million litres of wastewater and rainfall during periods of heavy flows.

Yorkshire Water said the scheme would reduce discharges into Firth Park stream by 90% and stop sewage water from flooding homes in the area.

Head of Alliance Delivery, Jon Stokes, said: "This tank will take the rain that ends up in our sewers so that we can then return it to our sewage treatment works and clean it before discharging it safely back into the environment."

Once construction is complete, Yorkshire Water said the allotments would be reinstated, with three previously unusable plots upgraded and brought back into use.

"We'll return this site to how it was when we found it and we'll make it a little bit better as well," Stokes said.

The charity's allotment coordinator, Saskia Peet, said the group had adapted after being displaced from the site by continuing projects in schools and other community growing spaces, helping to safeguard funding and create new opportunities for local families.

While she accepted the work to reduce sewage flooding "needed to be done", Peet said she remained concerned about the loss of mature fruit trees, established growing areas and uncertainty over compensation and restoration.

"It's going to take us five to 10 years to get those [trees] back to how they were," she said.

Despite the concerns, she said the group hoped the redeveloped site could attract more users and provide a fresh start for the community allotment.

"We're hoping this could be a good news story for everyone," she said.

The project is part of 470 across the county and forms part of Yorkshire Water's £1.5bn programme to reduce storm overflows across the region by 2030.

Yorkshire Water said it would work through any outstanding compensation claims.

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