RESIDENTS in Nelson and Colne have called on United Utilities to fix water leaks in the towns before enforcing a hose-pipe ban.

People living in the Brunswick Street and Netherfield Road area of Nelson said they were annoyed to see water leaking into the streets.

And residents in Hargreaves Street, in Colne, said they had had an issue with water in their road for at least six months.

But United Utlities called on people to report problems after saying it had not been notified about the leaks.

Michael Robinson, 58, of Vaughan Street, off Brunswick Street, said: “This one has been running off and on for at least the last two years, wasting gallons of water a week.

“Maybe if United Utilities started in their own back yard, by fixing numerous leaks like these, we wouldn’t be facing a hosepipe ban.”

His neighbour Carol Bowden said: “The hosepipe ban does take the biscuit when they haven’t done anything about the leaks.

“It’s a major inconvenience to have the street constantly flooding as well.”

In Colne, Hargreaves Street resident Rachel Roberts said: “It’s a huge problem and makes the street very slippery and dangerous.”

Shaun Robinson, of United Utilities, said it had resp-onded to four reports of other leaks in Nelson since April.

On April 7, United Utilities staff were made aware of a leak at the Ultimate Car Valet premises, which they repaired on May 4.

Two different people then reported a leak at the former Royal British Legion Club, where they carried out repairs on April 19. Staff then went to fix a leak on private property, also in April.

Mr Robinson said staff had been dispatched to check for leaks at Brunswick Street after being contacted by the Lancashire Telegraph.

But he urged people to contact the company if they spotted a leak.

He said: “We have halved the amount of water which leaks from our network in the last decade and met our leakage targets for the past four years in a row.

“We have achieved this through a free leakline telephone number, where customers can contact us free of charge to report leaks on 0800 330033. We are responding to all calls within 24-hours.”