MORE than 15,000 metres of gas pipes will be upgraded in Halton in the coming year.

Cadent Gas has revealed that £70million of work are planned in the north west for 2022/23, securing 600 jobs.

This will include 15,452 metres of pipeline replacements in Runcorn and Widnes – the ninth highest figure for any local authority area in the region.

Cadent replaces around 1.5 per cent of its underground distribution system every year, with some of the pipes set to be replaced in the latest phase being more than a century old.

A 30-year refurbishment scheme is seeing ageing metallic mains upgraded to plastic, ‘ensuring a a long-term safe network’.

Craig Horrocks, lead for Cadent’s gas mains upgrades in the north west, said: “More than 80 per cent of homes in the north west rely on gas for central heating, and it’s our job to make sure they get it safely and reliably every minute of every day of the year.

“As our older stock reaches the end of its safe working life, we must replace it.

“We’re also excited by the arrival soon of hydrogen to our networks, which is going to be essential to the north west achieving its targets to reduce carbon emissions.

“In most cases, we’re able to insert the new pipe into the old one – a technique that reduces the time of each project and means we don’t have to dig as much.

“It also means an end to what often becomes increasingly-frequent visits – with associated disruption – to repair faults on the older metallic mains as they start to show signs of age.

“We know it’s not ideal, but my team is determined to move as quickly as they safely can and get the work done with as little disruption as possible.”