New solution found to help fix landslip road in Cromford

Cllr Dermot Murphy, DCC; Cllr Barry Lewis, Leader, DCC; Cllr Kewal Singh Athwal, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport and Cllr David Taylor, DCC

Derbyshire County Councillors were joined by councillors from local parish and town councils.

The visit was organised by the county council to update the councillors on progress in finding a solution in order to get the road re-opened

Lea Road had a further landslip in early November, when a large part of the road fell down towards the river following heavy rain.

The road, which is near Cromford, first slipped in January 2020, and work started earlier this year to fix it. This work had to stop in May as engineers found the landslip was still moving and had cracked a sewer pipe running underneath. The pipe was mended and work was due to begin again this November.

Engineers found the new collapse when they went to make a routine inspection on Monday 1 November. The temporary piling platform, which was built to allow the installation of retaining piles, slipped around 2 meters down towards the river.

The council’s specialist contractors are now confident they have a new solution and will shortly be looking for formal permission for the work from the Environment Agency. This new solution includes building into the river bed and making a rock wall, which would be built up and backfilled to the road level.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said: “We do understand the frustration of everyone who lives locally and have not been able to use Lea Road for so long.

“Following the latest landslip in November our specialist contractors now have a new design solution to hold up the road.

"They need to complete their design work and then seek permission from the Environment Agency for the work.

“We expect that by early January these permissions will be in place, and we will have a new timescale.

“As soon as we have this new timescale we will be holding a public meeting for local people to come and find out more.

“We are so sorry for the inconvenience this is causing and thank everyone for their patience.”