Clock ticking at Kirkstall Educational with Yorkshire Water

Kirkstall Educational Cricket Club, of the Aire-Wharfe Cricket League, have fingers crossed that a current Yorkshire Water project finishes on time for the 2026 season.

The water company is installing a new storage tank at Kirkstall’s ground so there is currently a cavernous hole in the outfield at the far end. According to a Yorkshire Water statement, the new tank will help improve water quality in the River Aire by storing excess rain water during heavy rainfall.

It will hold in the region of 3,500m³ of water, or the equivalent of 23,333 bathtubs. Of course, this kind of long-term waste management is vital to ensure cleaner rivers. If you look into it, the River Aire has many examples of pollution along its 148km length and moreso in urban areas such as Leeds.

Problems often arise after heavy rainfall with storm overflows taking treated wastewater into rivers. Yorkshire Water is embattled on a number of fronts from the unpopularity of extended drought permits and executive bonuses to a series of headline-grabbing incidents like their £350,000 fine for a sewage leak at Foss Dike near York.

Yorkshire Water has now started its £1.5bn storm overflow investment project between 2025 and 2030 with 25 projects scheduled for Leeds in the first year.

Investment and infrastructure such as the engineering being done at Kirkstall Educational CC is a positive although the Headingley-based club want the work completed by March 2026.

Many will know KECC’s groundsman David Hodgson with the cricket ground often held up as a fine example in the league. YCF groundskeeper courses are hosted at Queenswood Drive, with Hodgy on hand to offer tips to others; something he’s done for years alongside loam deliveries and end-of-season square renovations.

It’s an obvious cause for concern when a giant hole (and I really do mean a giant hole) is carved out of a cricket ground. Clubs have sometimes struggled with areas of sagging or grass not growing when pipes or cables need to be laid underground. This is on an entirely other scale.

Hodgy tells me the beginning of March 2026 is slated for work finishing which would allow a small window to get the turf relaid before the Aire-Wharfe Cricket League season and the enormous volume of games the ‘Field of Dreams’ hosts.

If the worse-case scenario happens and the ground is not ready, KECC have contingency plans to play elsewhere to ensure teams aren’t disrupted. The club’s first eleven got promoted to the Aire-Wharfe League’s top-flight for 2026, while their second team also went up (to Division One).

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