UNITED Utilities has confirmed that plans for a £9m project to upgrade a waste pipe will still go ahead following a route revision to avoid sensitive areas.

According to the water board, engineers revised the route of a new sewer pipe between Bowdon Waste Water Treatment and Mere Platts pumping station, which avoids the ‘environmentally sensitive’ areas of Rostherne Mere.

The board faced strong opposition from land owners and Rostherne residents when it first announced the original route, which passed through Rostherne Mere, a wetland of international importance and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Jonathan Clarke project manager from United Utilities said: “The route amendment will also allow more pipe to be laid in public highway rather than in private land and it’s worth pointing out it will also mitigate the impact on the centre of the village, in particular, the track leading to St Mary’s Church.”

United Utilities received confirmation in January from Cheshire East Council that the revised route does not require an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Mr Clarke added: “The last thing we want is to disrupt the community and it’s for this reason we started speaking with stakeholders back in January 2014 about this project. Since then we have been taking on board comments raised, which has seen us revise the design and layout of this project on a number of occasions.”

“When we shared plans with our customers on the previous pipeline route they had been very understanding and now that we have made further changes we are going to hold another public exhibition to explain exactly what we’ll be doing.”

The water board has also said that when the project is complete it will ‘benefit the water quality’ in Rostherne Mere.

According to United Utilities, the project agreed with the Environment Agency will stop the current storm overflows from the wastewater pumping station at Mere Platts, off Mereside Road entering Rosterne Brook and ultimately the Mere which will ‘help improve the water quality in the Mere for the benefit of birds and other wildlife.’

United Utilities has also submitted a planning application to Cheshire East Council for a temporary point of access off Mereside Road in order to enable access to the adjacent farmland through which it proposes to lay the new sewer pipe.

A public meeting is to be held on February 1 to give members of the public a chance to view the plans and find out about the project.

The meeting will be held from 3pm to 7pm at Egerton Hall in Rostherne Lane, Rostherne.