United Utilities revamps outdoor space for primary school in Lea

The team at United Utilities who revamped the outdoor space.

Water company volunteers in Preston took time out of their weekend over the summer to create a better outdoor space for a local primary school.

Engineers from United Utilities, and its construction partner, Bethells were upgrading the sewer network in Cottam when they decided to give Lea Endowed Primary School a facelift.

They replaced old wooden flower beds, tidied the pond area by weeding and clearing walkways, repaired and painted the fence and created a new seating area for nature lessons.

Catherine Seagrave, headteacher at the school said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to United Utilities and Bethells for the amazing improvements they’ve made to our school grounds.

“Together they have made such a transformation, particularly with the planters, paths, pond and forest school areas. We are truly grateful.”

United Utilities was in the area to upgrade 4km of sewers in Cottam, including Hoyles Lane.

Lesley Miller, third-party coordinator at United Utilities said: “We understand that this type of construction work can be disruptive to communities.

“Obviously while we are in the area we are doing everything we can to keep noise and disruption to a minimum but we also wanted to make a positive impact on the community while we were here.

“We thought that sprucing up the local primary school’s garden was a good way of achieving that.”

The Cottam sewer improvement project, which is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025, is creating a more resilient sewer network which can deal with increased demand and prevent flooding to properties on Hoyles Lane during periods of heavy rainfall.

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