Council agrees to borrow £849,000 for road repairs to complete Derbyshire housing scheme
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Following a long debate, NE Derbyshire District Council voted by a majority in favour at a meeting on November 25 to borrow the additional £849,000 in a final push to complete essential highways work for the council development involving 70 new homes at Whiteleas Avenue, in North Wingfield.
The Labour-led council originally borrowed £11,235,000 for the scheme but after it became apparent that a road had deteriorated during building work and improvements were needed councillors eventually voted in favour of the additional loan taking the total borrowed for the scheme to £12,084,000.
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Hide AdDeputy Leader Cllr Pat Kerry, who is also the portfolio holder for Strategic Leadership and Finance, said: “The scale and technical specifications of the required works have been agreed with Derbyshire County Council. The cost of the work has been independently verified and stands at £849,000.”


Work started on the scheme around September, 2023, but more recently as the developers focused on plans for footpaths, resurfacing the carriageway, grass verges and vehicle crossovers or dropped kerbs it became apparent the road condition was in a poor state and deteriorating.
Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority reassessed the area and the scale of the essential improvement work and the technical specifications required to improve the road conditions have now been agreed between the county and district councils.
A council report stated the section of the road needing work affects only part of the development so some properties can be completed, but the large majority are affected by the works and without additional funding the full scheme would be put at risk and delays may lead to additional contractual cost pressures.
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Hide AdHowever, several opposition councillors raised concerns whether it was the council’s or others’ responsibility to pay for the repairs and Cllr Alex Dale and others called for the matter to be deferred so it could be addressed further before the council committed to the additional loan.
Conservative Cllr Dale said: “It does seem like mistakes have been made with this because it seems very wrong that we as the client are being asked to dig into our pockets or actually the tax-payers’ pockets to put right significant damage that from all I can see has been caused by the developer, the contractor, if you like, the sub-contractor.”
But the council’s Director of Finance and Resources, Jayne Dethick, explained a lot of exploratory work has been done and it is the council’s liability as the developer to meet the additional costs and if the matter was delayed the council would face significant contractual implications and significant extra costs.
Ms Dethick added that if the council chose not to approve the loan so the necessary work could proceed the housing scheme would have to be reduced with fewer homes.
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Hide AdCllr Kerry, who explained the concrete road had broken up during the building work, urged the council to approve the loan for the repairs so the housing scheme could be completed.
Councillors voted by a majority against deferring the matter before voting by a majority to approve the £849,000 loan for the housing scheme’s necessary road repairs.
A council report stated the council is satisfied that borrowing an additional £849,000 is prudent, affordable, and sustainable as part of its Council Plan to build, acquire and deliver more high quality social housing for rent in the district and that the additional funding is needed for the completion of the site.
It added that the council believes the revenue impact of the scheme in light of a Housing Revenue Account 30-year business plan can be met and that rental streams over the loan period will be sufficient to meet the costs of the additional borrowing and other revenue costs such as repairs and maintenance.
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Hide AdLabour Cllr Kevin Gillott said: “Anybody who knows that road knows it has never been in the best of conditions. It is not a traditional road. It’s an old concrete block road and clearly the building work has caused far more damage to that road than anyone anticipated and it needs to be put right.”
The properties at the North Wingfield housing scheme include a mix of two, three and four bedroom houses, and 2 bedroom bungalows and they will all be managed by Rykneld Homes on behalf of NE Derbyshire District Council.
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