Connection to storm drain - help!

[cwight]

Ok, this is complicated and quite a saga. I've just built my own house. Soakaways wouldn't work and I have been given permission to take the surface water into the storm drain at the bottom of the drive. I also am being forced (by Kirklees highways) to do some drainage work on site to make sure that no water runs across the pavement. Given the slope of the drive they aren't happy with an Aco at the bottom of the drive.

To cut a long story short I need to install a gully at one corner of the bottom of the drive and slope the drive towards that gully to catch all the run-off from the drive (when completed). I also need to run about 3m of french drain and tap that into the gully to catch some surface water that comes continously out of the bank. Then I need to connect up my surface water outlet to the gully. Finally I need to take the gully out into the road and connect to the storm drain. There are two manholes at the bottom of the drive, but I've been told I can't just tap my site water into these and I need to make a new connection to the storm drain on the highway. The total work involves:

1. Dig out and install one gully (there is some rock here so I will need a JCB with a breaker)

2. Run about 12m of pipe work both to the gully and to the start of the pavement.

3. Dig up the road to the site of the new drain connection (about 6m)

4. Run about 7m of pipework to the new drain connection (1 m of pavment+6m to ne connection.

5. Reinstate road and pavement.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but with a JCB it seems to me like 2 days digging and maybe 2-3 days to lay the pipes and reinstate everything. For this I've been quoted £4000. This seems excessive to me. I just wondered what anyone thought. The really galling thing is that I can only use Council approved contractors so I can't really shop around. I could do a lot of the on-site work myself, but even so, is connecting to drains on highways really always so expensive? Am I underestimating what's involved? Or am I being ripped off? How do I know?

Can anyway offer any advice, or suggest any contractors with the appropriate NRASWA license that are trustworthy in the W. Yorkshire area?

[Tony McC]

4 grand for a sewer connection is not expensive. It's no so much the labour, plant and materials that cost so much, it's all the frigging about with Elfin Safety, traffic control, opening notices, consent forms, inspection fees, big dinners for council officials and bloody insurance.

Kirklees will/should give you a list of all approved contractors for the 'Uddersfield area. I know SWYcare work that patch, but I'm not sure if they are approved by Kirklees - no harm in asking, though Tel: 01924 263015