Around £9.8 million is to be spent on further improvements to sewer overflows and the building of two tanks in Penwortham, Preston, a planning application submitted to Lancashire County Council by United Utilities has revealed.

The company will make changes to a sewer overflow at Riverside Road by constructing a chamber and screen in the highway.

Storage capacities are to be increased at Cop Lane and Valley Road by building two huge underground tanks, each with a capacity to hold 1,700 mega litres of storm water. The new storage tanks will help prevent waste spilling into the River Ribble during heavy downpours.

Project manager Andy Kidd said:

"It's essential that the quality of water entering the estuary is improved. If our plans are approved, the works will ensure the watercourse returns to a healthy state producing thriving environments for people and wildlife.

"Unfortunately, some disruption is inevitable but we hope people will agree the long-term benefits to cleaning up the Ribble Estuary are worth short-term inconvenience, as bathing waters along the Fylde Coast will improve too."

If the planning committee gives the green light work could start as early as January 2011 with a completion date in December.

The utility firm is already constructing five miles of pipes and tunnels at a cost of £114m, part of a major three-year scheme to stop wastewater flowing into the River Ribble. The tunnelling scheme, one of the biggest ever seen in Preston, sees tunnels dug up to 100ft below the streets of the city to hold excess water during storms.