THE leader of Woking Borough Council is demanding action from Affinity Water over the large number of leaks in its area, warning: “This level of disruption cannot continue”.

Ann-Marie Barker has written a strongly-worded letter to the water-supply company’s chief executive, Stuart Ledger, documenting a catalogue of leaks and the resulting disruption.

“As the leader of Woking Council, I am very concerned at the large number of water leaks and burst water mains across the Woking area in recent months,” writes Cllr Barker.

“Today [23 August] a water main burst in Bampton Way, Goldsworth Park, causing disruption to local traffic and impacting a well-used bus route. Over last weekend there was a burst water main on Arthurs Bridge Road in Horsell and a significant leak affecting residents of Colliers Close.

“A week ago, a water main burst on Chertsey Road in Woking. This is the main road into Woking from the M25, and it remains closed, with re-opening scheduled for today [23 August].

“Two weeks ago, a leak was reported on Littlewick Road, another important through route, connecting Horsell to Knaphill and Goldsworth Park.

“It was a small puddle, it is now quite a large puddle which extends down the road. I visited the road on Monday and saw vehicles driving through and splashing water all over the pavement, into the homes of residents who have suffered burst water mains on this road on a number of occasions in the past. This leak is yet to be repaired.

“On Monday, I drove back into Woking along the A320, as it goes past the ambulance station near St Peter’s Hospital. There was a major water-main burst there at the end of last month and the road was closed for quite a number of days.

“There is another leak there that had been a small puddle for a few weeks. Today the rate of flow of that leak had increased significantly and I have since heard that part of the road has been coned off.

“Our local roads are being severely disrupted, causing hold-ups and diversions that inevitably mean higher CO2 emissions and increased fuel costs.”

She added that local people have had water supply cuts or a limited supply. Residents had told her of their concerns about the loss of water at a time when a drought has been declared across the South East.

“This level of disruption to our area cannot continue,” her letter says. “What are you doing to prevent this unacceptable level of leaks in future?”

An Affinity Water spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused from leaks on our network.

“Periods of prolonged dry weather, as we are experiencing now, can cause shifts in ground movement. This in turn can cause pipes to bend and crack, releasing water. This means that we are responding to more leaks than usual and our teams are working around the clock to fix pipes as quickly as possible.

“Reducing leakage is important to us and we know customers care about this too. We are investing heavily to reduce leakage by 20% by 2025,” said the spokesman. “We have driven leakage down to its lowest ever level we have had as a company and will maintain our focus on this key area.

“However, we know we must do better and need to do much more.”