Flower Power Launches £3.8M Green Scheme

United Utilities (UK) celebrated the completion of a £3.8m green scheme in Lymm by planting thousands of bulbs with volunteers.

The company has just finished building a huge underground tank which will clean-up nearby Sow Brook and marked the occasion by laying 5,000 crocus bulbs in the area.

Volunteers from the water firm, as well as from Groundwork, Life for a Life, Marks & Spencer, contractors VJ Donegan and Co Ltd and local residents, also took part in the fun.

Luke Spencer, United Utilities project coordinator, said: “This is a great scheme for the community – it will make Sow Brook the cleanest it has been for decades – and we had fun in the sunshine planting the bulbs, which will look lovely next year.

“It was a win-win for the environment.”

During storms, rainwater can overload the sewers and the water, together with sewage, can overflow into our rivers and watercourses, preventing roads and homes being flooded.

In January this year, work started on building the detention tank which will hold the storm flows and screen out any litter like a sieve before it enters the brook.

The tank fits into a 23m-deep shaft and is nearly 20m across.

Luke added: “We’ve been building on land occupied by local allotments and a memorial garden, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t just return the area as it was, but made it look brighter next spring with the crocuses. We really wanted to give something back.”