An electricity firm has denied claims that it has delayed progress on Kendal’s flood defence scheme.
SP Electricity North West was blamed by The Environment Agency last month for progress on the scheme stalling.
The EA said that the firm was due to relocate a high voltage energy cable before Christmas, but was instead planning to move it in late February, pushing the overall timeline of the flood scheme back.
But the electricity firm has now argued that it is working to schedule.
A spokesman said: “We refute the claims that have been made and the work to divert high voltage cables to enable flood defence work is running to schedule.
“We shared the timeline for this significant engineering project with the Environment Agency in October stating that work would be completed in late February.
“We have since worked hard to bring this date forward to late January with teams working over several weekends.
“We understand the need for this essential work and are on track to deliver it as agreed.”
The high voltage cable runs alongside the River Kent at Aynam Road and the EA said its contractors VolkerStevin were due to start work on the next phase of flood defences in January.
It added that work on the flood defences cannot be carried out until the cable is moved.
Environment Agency project manager Glenn Mitchell said last month: “We are reliant upon third-party electricity suppliers carrying out the relocation of the live line before we can get started on the construction of the flood defences, as it currently lies under the proposed work area.
“For this cable, SP Electricity North West have a permanent diversion solution, moving it in a new position away from the river. Work began on the diversion some months ago but seem to have again stalled.
“Once the electricity cable has been moved, we will start construction.”
