Three councillors are demanding an apology from Yorkshire Water saying the company “failed” people by “digging its heels in” over calls for action in Shipley.

But although the company has repaired a hole in Carr Lane, Windhill, it says the work was done as a “goodwill gesture” and is not accepting responsibility for the problems caused – instead blaming Bradford Council.

Councillors Vanda Greenwood, Susan Hinchcliffe and Alex Ross-Shaw (all Lab, Windhill and Wrose) first wrote to Yorkshire Water in October complaining about the void which appeared in the road in August.

The company investigated and said the fault was caused by a failure of one of the Council’s culverts.

The owner of the Carnegie Dental Clinic, at the junction of Carr Lane and Leeds Road, also complained of flooding at her premises, which it was thought could be linked to the cavity. The hole has now been repaired and the road was being resurfaced yesterday by Yorkshire Water staff.

Coun Greenwood said she and colleagues had been at their “wit’s end”.

Councillors were under the impression that Yorkshire Water had now accepted responsibility for the problems caused, but the company is still insisting it is not at fault.

The councillors’ initial letter to chief executive Richard Flint said the cavity caused problems for thousands of drivers, was dangerous and asked for it to be fixed.

Yesterday a spokesman for Yorkshire Water said: “This problem has been caused by a failure of one of the Council’s undergrounds culverts which, as a gesture of goodwill, Yorkshire Water has agreed to rectify on the Council’s behalf.

“A temporary reinstatement was made before Christmas, with a more permanent one being carried out this morning.

“We are aiming to do the investigation into the drain connections early in the New Year and this information will be passed on to the council.”

The councillors’ most recent letter to Mr Flint says: “We are writing to ask for an apology on behalf of the people of Windhill and Wrose for the inordinate length of time it has taken your company to resolve the problem of the hole at the bottom of Carr Lane.

“You failed to respond adequately to our pleas for action and instead dug your heels in, challenging council officers to provide absolute proof that it was your fault.”

Yorkshire Water would not comment on how it intended to respond to the demands for an apology.

Coun Hinchcliffe said: “We’ve escalated the issue to the top of the company because we just weren’t getting anywhere through Yorkshire Water’s normal processes.”

Bradford Council was unable to comment yesterday.