Water works may disrupt drivers

The pipes are more than 100 years old

Victorian water pipes that lie beneath Manchester's streets are to be replaced, causing major disruption for many city centre drivers.

Work will be carried out on Oxford Road, Deansgate, Great Ancoats and Piccadilly from next Monday.

The corroded cast iron pipes will be replaced with plastic ones, which United Utilities claim will improve water quality and reduce bursts.

Work is expected to take at least two years to complete.

The work will only be carried out from 0900 to 1700 GMT due to the noise disruption it may cause to city centre residents.

'Road chaos'

Councillor Marc Ramsbottom criticised the works.

He said: "Two years is an extraordinary long time and it will clearly cause chaos.

"I understand that late night working can be intolerable for residents. But what is to stop them starting at say 7am and working until 7pm?

"It makes you wonder to what extent they have looked at the problems this will cause."

Project manager Ian Ford said commuters "were not in for two years of road chaos".

He said the work was "essential" and "the most important work to take place on the city centre's water mains in over 100 years".