A determined councillor is appealing to MPs and the East Midlands Mayor to support his campaign for the Department for Transport to reconsider funding the scrapped Chesterfield-Staveley bypass scheme after his online petition was knocked back by the Government.

Staveley Town Cllr Paul Mann attempted to set up an online petition calling for the Government to rethink its controversial decision to not fund the £197m Chesterfield to Staveley Regeneration Route but this was ‘rejected’ by the House of Commons Petition Team claiming the petition requests action ‘at a local level’.

However, Cllr Mann has argued the scheme is hugely significant locally, regionally and nationally in that it was to facilitate plans for 1,500 new homes and 5,700 new jobs, as outlined in the Chesterfield Local Plan, boosting wider economic growth while alleviating congestion and pollution.

Independent Cllr Mann said: “Regarding the petition for the Brimington and Staveley bypass the Government adjudicator has refused our petition so may I now ask that everyone who was in favour of this please email the regional Mayor, the MP for Chesterfield, the MP for North East Derbyshire, and the Transport Minister and let’s see if we can inundate them with 10,000 signatures.”

Staveley bypass. The bypass would start at the Sainsbury's roundabout and end at Hall Lane in Staveley.

placeholder image — Staveley bypass. The bypass would start at the Sainsbury's roundabout and end at Hall Lane in Staveley.

The scheme, overseen by the East Midlands Combined County Authority and Derbyshire County Council, had hoped to provide a 5.7km single carriageway, opening up the Staveley and Rother Valley Corridor for regeneration by facilitating the development of 150 hectares of degraded land, bringing much-needed regeneration and opportunity to deprived communities.

In addition, a lot of the brownfield land in the area would have been opened up for much-needed housing if the scheme had gone ahead.

But now this land may not be used, developers are targeting greenfield land instead and with more housing schemes expected in the area residents fear congestion and pollution levels will get worse without a bypass.

The Labour Government Department for Transport removed the long-awaited scheme in October from its major projects funding programme.

Pictured Is Staveley Town Cllr Paul Mann, Taken By Ldr Jon Cooper

The DfT stated that given the Government’s inherited financial challenges it could only progress road schemes that are good value for money for taxpayers.

A House of Commons Petition Team spokesperson told Cllr Mann: “We can’t accept petitions that call for action at a local level.

“You could ask your MP to take action on your concerns about this issue, including by asking them to present a public paper petition about this.”

But Cllr Mann believes the dismissal of his online petition is blocking the rights of residents to object and put forward their views directly to the Government after it made the decision not to fund the scheme.

He said: “I have seen the refusal as taking away the residents of Staveley and Brimington’s democratic right to petition Government.

“And it’s even more insulting to residents because not one of the people rejecting this petition has come up and spoken to us.”

Cllr Mann is now demanding a full written explanation on how this decision was made with the reasoning for not allowing the online petition.

In the meantime, Cllr Mann is making arrangements to organise a written, hardcopy, paper petition with plans to personally deliver this directly to Number 10 in London.

The announcement on October 9 was met with disappointment by MPs, Chesterfield Borough Council and the Mayor of the East Midlands.

A DfT spokesperson said: “The previous Government did not fund these projects. Given the challenging financial picture we inherited, we have had to make difficult decisions on a number of road projects and can only progress schemes that are good value for money for taxpayers.

“We’re backing drivers with over £1bn for 16 major road schemes that will deliver the most benefits to local people, on top of a record £7.3bn to repair local roads and fix potholes.”

EMCCA Labour Mayor Claire Ward expressed disappointment at the scrapping of the bypass scheme and she stressed aims to reduce congestion, build homes and grow the economy still need to be achieved.

Labour’s Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins and NE Derbyshire MP Louise Sandher-Jones stated the scrapped scheme has been met with real disappointment by Staveley and Brimington residents, businesses and investors after it has been discussed in many guises for around 50 years.