PROBLEMS with flooding and raw sewage backing up into shops may soon be a thing of the past in the Foxwood Lane area of York.

Residents in the area awoke to water lapping at their doorsteps on August 17 this year after one of the three pumps at the pumping station burned out.

This should have triggered a system which automatically switched on the second pump.

But the system failed leading to surface water flooding Foxwood Lane, which did not recede for eight hours.

At a meeting at Foxwood Community Centre, Yorkshire Water officials told residents and councillors that a new remote alarm system would alert engineers before any reduction in pumping capacity was noticeable.

It is hoped the problem of sewage backing up has also been solved.

Three properties near the shops in Foxwood Lane have suffered from raw waste backing up. Council engineers have now fitted non-return valves to prevent this happening again but blockages in the main sewer – blamed by Yorkshire Water on fat build-ups – would mean that toilets and washing facilities would be unusable in these homes. But Yorkshire Water has promised to check and clean the sewer regularly and to investigate whether illegal substances are being deposited into the sewage system.

Westfield councillor Steve Galloway said: “I was very pleased to hear from Yorkshire Water that they are going to provide solutions to the flooding problems we experienced this summer in Foxwood. The drastic level of flooding was caused by a simple system failure and cannot be allowed to happen again.

“It will also be a great relief to those who live near to Foxwood Lane shops that Yorkshire Water are again listening to residents’ concerns and dealing with the sewage problems there. The meeting was generally very productive, and I hope that its outcomes will prevent further problems for Foxwood residents in the future.”