TOOLS dating from 4000BC have been uncovered on a pipeline route at Yorkshire Water’s 2.3 million investment scheme near Bagby.

Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, was shown a number of flint tools from the Neolithic period 4000 to 2000BC that were found after archaeological surveys were completed by Northern Archaeological Associates before the scheme started.

Small knives, a scraper and piercers, which would have been used to work on animal skins, were unearthed. After being examined by specialists, the tools will be given to the Yorkshire Museum in York.

Yorkshire Water found the items while installing a three-mile sewer pipe from Bagby to its waste water treatment works at Sowerby, Thirsk.

The project,being completed for the company by Mott McDonald Bentley, started in August and is part of a programme of environmental improvements to enhance the water discharged from some of its waste water treatment works.

Yorkshire Water is investing £70m to improve the water that is returned to the environment to meet new environmental targets on phosphorus removal. The company is improving 196km of water courses.

The new sewer pipeline will mean that Bagby sewage plant can be decommissioned with the village’s sewage waste treated in Thirsk instead. Thirsk waste water treatment works is located off Sandholmes Lane in Sowerby and is soon to undergo an upgrade too.

The MP was also shown how the company is avoiding two-way traffic lights on the A19 near Bagby to avoid traffic congestion. They have excavated two deep holes in the fields adjacent to the highway and will drill under the road and then install the pipe connecting up to the pipe leading to the waste water treatment works.

Emily Brady, from Yorkshire Water, said: “This investment shows our commitment to improving water treatment and helping the environment. These investments will have a profound effect on improving our processes.”

Kevin Hollinrake added: “I was very interested to see first-hand the investment being made in water treatment in North Yorkshire. It was particularly pleasing to see that drainage and sewage works are being future proofed to take into account predicted housing and population growth up till 2030. It is hugely important that we deliver infrastructure at the same time as this growth is actually happening, rather than fire-fighting when capacity is exceeded. We also need to take the same approach for other vital services, such as health and transport.”