Disruption and calls for more action after water main bursts on Bilston street

It was a day of disruption for many along the main shopping street in Bilston town centre after a burst water main.

Church Street was left covered in water after the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Friday morning and saw flooding affecting the stretch between Fleet Street and Walsall Street.

Wolverhampton Council said cordons had been put in place around the affected area while work was carried out to deal with the incident, with the road expected to remain closed for several hours.

It left many shops on the street either unable to open or having to work without water, while crews from Severn Trent Water could be seen working at the scene to repair the damaged water main.

Among those having to adapt to the situation as the day progressed was Kevin Evans, who owns and runs Dixon Family Butchers.

He said it had caused a lot of issues for businesses in the town, but had not had a massive impact on him.

He said: “It’s not affected me that much on this side of town, but I know it’s taken out the left side of the street, so the likes of Poundzone, and they’ve had to shut down completely as there’s no water, because it’s been turned off.

“I got here about 5.30am this morning and the police stopped me driving up to the front of my shop, which I normally can do to open up, and that’s when I saw the massive lake, and it just got worse and worse as the morning went on, with it really being at its peak at 8.30am.

“The funny thing is that I’ve actually been busier this today as a few of the cafes have had to close, so our sandwiches have been going through the roof and, for the roast pork and beef, we’ve managed to keep going by buying in water and boiling it.

“I’ve not heard from Severn Trent yet about this, but the lads working outside have been good as they’ve answered my questions, although they don’t know when it’s going to be done and, looking at it, it’s not going to be a small job.”

Wolverhampton Council leader and Bilston native Councillor Stephen Simkins said teams had been working to fix the problem and said that while Bilstonians were resilient, they wanted answers from Severn Trent Water.

He said: “We’re really concerned about the situation and our teams have been out since 4am, working with Severn Trent to resolve the issues.

“We want to get the town back to its original status as quickly as possible, but we are guided by the expertise of Severn Trent and I think they have a duty to contact the businesses affected as this is a massive shopping weekend, with kids going back to school and lots of parents out around the town.

“We always come together for flood resilience as we are born and bred on it, but what’s important to me is asking our teams to look at what is the second major flood, following one on Spring Road, and we need to know what the problem is.

“Is it an infrastructure problem with Severn Trent and what can we do to make sure none of this happens again as we can mitigate it to a certain extent, but we need to understand what the nature of it is.”

Severn Trent offered an apology for the disruption caused and said, in response to Councillor Simkin, that it was working to speak to traders and businesses.

A spokesman for Severn Trent said: “We’re sorry for the disruption caused by a burst pipe on Church Street in Bilston this morning.

“Our teams are on site and working on the network so repairs can begin as quickly as possible.

“We know this is a busy, well used high street and we are sorry for the impact this is having, both to businesses on the high street and those visiting.

“Our specialist teams are working with any businesses and traders that have been impacted, and we want to assure everyone we're working as quickly and as safely as possible.

“We're also thankful to the local community and businesses for their understanding as we carry out these emergency repairs.”