A new pumping station and sewers will benefit the environment in the Hampshire village of Oakley, near Basingstoke.

The village's wastewater is currently treated at Water Ridges Wastewater Treat Works near Sainfoin Lane.

In a £1.4 million scheme, we are laying new pipes to transfer the flows to nearby Ivy Down Lane Wastewater Treatment Works. This works, currently undergoing a £2.75 million upgrade, is able to treat wastewater to higher standard and in accordance with new Environment Agency guidelines.

Water Ridges treatment works, which was built more than 50 years ago, will be taken out of use and a new pumping station will be built inside the site to pump the flows through a 0.5 kilometre sewer.

The sewer route will mainly go through farmland, although there is a need to lay pipes in Fairview Meadows and Sainfoin Lane, Oakley.

Residents in Fairview Meadow and Sainfoin Lane have been contacted with details about construction work in their area.

The first stage of work, outside the treatment works, will complete in January 2012. Work on the site will continue until June.

The scheme is being carried out by Southern Water’s supplier 4Delivery, a consortium comprising Veolia Water, Costain and MWH.