Chester Diocese
News Item
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A parish’s hole-y gesture …
A SPECTACULAR gesture by a parish in Wirral has spared a community months of road works misery. When a huge underground storm chamber had to be urgently constructed in Heswall to prevent serious flooding, local residents were braced for total traffic chaos...
The villagers were told by utility company Welsh Water that the only place the 10-metre diameter hole could be created was slap in the middle of Village Road, a principal thoroughfare. And the road would have had to be closed to traffic for three months while the project was completed. But then in stepped the diocese with an offer to accommodate the tank on church land under the garden of the local rectory, so leaving the road largely undisturbed. The Rector of Heswall, the Revd Dr Jonathan Gibbs, was very much in favour of the idea. In fact, it was he who suggested it. He said: “The village floods three or four times a year as the drains cannot cope with that amount of water. “The only area where the water company could place the tank was in the road and if it had done that it would have had to move a gas main which would have added an extra two months to the work.” “We believe the disruption to the community had the tank been built under the road would have been bad for many businesses in the area. This shows our commitment to the village.” The tank is now complete and the rectory garden has been restored to its former glory.
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The giant hole beneath the Heswall Rectory garden
The Revd Dr Jonathan Gibbs, hole owner.
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