Contracts for the £1.75 billion Haweswater Viaduct project are yet to be agreed

The purpose of this agreement is to obtain guarantees regarding the costs and implementation of a huge engineering and construction project. The ultimate winner of the contract will act independently and will have a duty of care to all major organizations involved in the Haweswater project, including United Utilities and Ofwat.

The Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Program (known as HARP) will be the largest infrastructure project undertaken by United Utilities since the privatization of the UK water industry. The construction phase is expected to take approximately eight years. However, United Utilities may want the contractor to maintain the new water tunnels for 25 years.

Ultimately, the money paid by Northwest households in the form of water bills over the coming years will go towards paying the winning contractors.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service recently asked United Utilities for an update on any contracting decisions. A spokesman said: “United Utilities continues to conduct procurement processes to select a competitive supplier and independent technical advisor for HARP. Therefore, no contracts have been awarded at this time. Once they do, we will issue an update on this.”

The HARP water tunnel project is divided into sections passing through various urban areas including Lancaster, Ribble Valley, Hyndburn, Rossendale and Bury. Therefore, various local governments along the route were involved in planning applications submitted by United Utilities.

The Ribble Valley covers much of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It has some protected status similar to, but lower than, national parks such as the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

Some fear that rural villages and businesses in Bowland, including wedding halls, pubs, restaurants, farms and shops, could be affected by disruption to Haweswater works or the widespread perception that the area is “closed”, difficult to access or visually unsightly. Planned works include strengthening rural roads, dedicated HGV routes from the A59 north of Clitheroe to the Bowland area, a new crossing over the River Ribble and working areas in fields.

Ribble Valley Council was recently questioned by one of its councillors, Conservative Kevin Horkin, about whether it had already carried out a detailed assessment of the economic impact of the Haweswater project in its area? Coun Horkin said the council had carried out an environmental impact assessment but there was uncertainty about a thorough economic analysis.

He was told the borough’s planning commission was expecting an economic impact report from council officials.

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