RESIDENTS were invited to take a look at the work being carried out in Stourport by Severn Trent as part of the Birmingham Resilience Project.

Severn Trent are building a new water intake and pumping station near Lickhill and laying a new water pipeline for 25km from there to Frankley, in Birmingham.

As the project is now well underway and there is a lot of working on-going at the Lickhill site, the water company and contract partners Barhale invited local residents to come and have a look at what is going on.

Chris Humphreys, from Severn Trent, said: "We need to make sure our customers across the region continue to get a reliable water supply. This project is the biggest engineering challenge we have ever done and we are investing around £300m.

"Although the project's main aim is to make water supplies for Birmingham more resilient, it will have benefits for our customers right across our region, and in the Stourport area where the project team are based and a lot of work is taking place.

"Lickhill is where we will be taking water from the River Severn and where the pumping station will be. We have recently made a change to our plans, meaning that the pumping station will be in a slightly different place.

"We no longer have to build on an old landfill site, so won't have to disturb hazardous material, which is great for the local area and the environment in general.

"We wanted to reassure the local people, and to make sure they fully understand what we are doing, so we invited them to come and have a look at what's going on."

Cheryl Mackinnon, of the Severn Bank Residents Group, said: "The site visit was much enjoyed by all who attended.

"The residents found the tour very interesting and particularly the size and scale of the project."

Mr Humphreys added: "These kind of sessions are a great way for us to find out how we can minimise the impact of our work on the local community, after all, the people who know the area best are the local residents.

"We had a great day and we are confident that the people who came to see the work understand what we are doing and why and are happy that we won't be causing any issues for them and the local area."