“Sick and tired” residents speak up against “nightmare” roadworks planning in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire – after petition to council launched

An online survey launched alongside the petition has revealed growing frustration from residents, carers, businesses, parents, and commuters who say that poorly organised and overlapping roadworks are causing “major disruption” to daily life across communities in the county.

In the survey, residents described “significant delays” making travel to and from work a “nightmare” with many saying they were “sick” and “tired” of being stuck in traffic every morning.

One of the residents described that a 10 minute drive from Clay Cross to Wingerworth was now taking approximately 45 mins each way due to roadworks.

A Grassmoor resident added that a 15 minute journey to Wingerworth was now taking 45 minutes - three times longer than before.

Another person said in their survey response: “Visits to the dentist, vet, nursery and shopping in Clay Cross are a nightmare. Journeys are taking at least 3 times longer as alternate routes have road closure or more temporary traffic lights.”

Complaining about Clay Cross roadworks, a different resident added: “Its quicker to get to Tesco Alfreton than Tesco’s in Cross.”

Among the concerns raised are delays affecting family carers, social care workers, and district nurses attempting to reach vulnerable residents and loved ones.

Domiciliary care workers and community carers are often only paid for the time spent providing care – and spending hours in traffic means they are reaching less patients, often earning less.

One carer said: “As a community carer, I am “working” 1-2 hours without pay as I am sat in roadworks.”

Another added: “Working as a carer in the community, the roadworks have an often massive impact on my ability to provide timely care, such as relief of pressure sores, time sensitive medication and meal times.

"Our service users have been known to cancel important appointments as they can't be sure we'll be able to get them there on time, and these are vulnerable individuals.

"It also negatively impacts my financial situation as the more time I spend in the car, the less I get paid.”

Residents have also spoken of missing important appointments, particularly health-related appointments, due to congestion and unclear roadwork schedules.

Many said they were “fed up” with the limited access to shops in and around Market Street, Clay Cross and temporary traffic lights at Horns Bridge roundabout in Chesterfield, causing them to avoid the areas and go elsewhere.

Local business owners complained about losing income as a result of ongoing disruption, with some facing cancellation fees for events, customers arriving late for appointments, and difficulties receiving stock deliveries.

This comes after New Inn, a pub in Clay Cross was significantly affected by roadworks and left without stock due to temporary traffic lights and signs suddenly appearing outside the building on Market Street in April.

In the survey, business owners have further criticised poor communication regarding when works are actually taking place and how long they will last.

A small business owner from Wingerworth said: “The road works in and around the village (especially the ones at the roundabout next to Nethermoor Road have impacted us greatly.

"Customers have been caught up in the traffic leading to late arrivals for their appointments, which in turn creates a domino effect for the rest of our appointments for the day.

"Not to mention the confusion regarding the signs for Longedge Lane & Edinburgh Road closures which seem to change dates so no one knows what’s happening.”

Another business owner added: “It’s horrendous. The extra time to travel to and from work is dreadful.

"As a small business owner the impact on our business has been immense and there is no end in sight for the shambles of road repairs they all need resurfacing properly and staffing needs to be 24/7 to get it done fast they manage to do this in other countries keeping disruption to a minimum.”

A different respondent added: “The mess in Clay Cross is ridiculous and the loss of footfall for the businesses should be compensated.”

Parents and commuters have similarly raised concerns about being late for work, children struggling to get to school on time, and major impacts on public transport services.

Cllr Ross Shipman, Independent North East Derbyshire District Council Cabinet member for Tupton had received numerous complaints from local residents over recent months and launched the petition and survey alongside Cllr David Hancock, following a public meeting organised by Derbyshire People Against Roadwork Planning (DPARP) at the end of April.

Cllr Shipman said: “People fully understand that roadworks have to happen from time to time.

"The frustration is not about roads being repaired — it’s about the complete lack of coordination and common sense in how some of these works are organised.”

He added: “We’ve heard from family carers, district nurses, businesses, parents, commuters and residents right across Derbyshire who are all saying the same thing — the disruption is becoming unacceptable.”

Speaking about the impact on local communities, Cllr Shipman added: “At one point, three out of the four roads in and out of Tupton were either closed or affected by roadworks at the same time.

"Residents simply cannot understand the logic behind allowing multiple nearby schemes to overlap and cause gridlock.”

He also raised concerns about the impact on workers and businesses: “Care workers are being delayed getting to vulnerable people, residents are missing hospital appointments, businesses are losing income, and people are arriving late for work and school.

"Some carers are even doing unpaid overtime because of the delays being caused.”

The petition launched by Cllr Ross Shipman and Cllr David Hancock is calling for Derbyshire County Council to:

• Improve coordination between utility companies and council-led works;
• Introduce tighter permit controls with enforceable deadlines;
• Strengthen oversight and enforcement where works overrun;
• Require consultation with Parish and Town Councils on major or long-term schemes; and
• Improve transparency and communication with residents and businesses.

It is hoped that the petition will encourage the council to review their policies and improve roadworks planning and communication to reduce unnecessary disruption while still allowing essential infrastructure improvements to take place efficiently.

Cllr Shipman added: “At some point, Reform at Derbyshire County Council have to take responsibility for the way the highways department is organising utility companies and its own roadworks. Residents deserve a system that works properly and puts communities first.”

Derbyshire County Council has acknowledged that the delays caused by the roadworks can be frustrating – but said works were necessary for a number of reasons, including utility road repairs and works to maintain gas, water, electricity and telecoms services across the county.

Councillor Charlotte Hill, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “I understand that getting caught in roadworks is frustrating but we always do our best to manage planned roadworks and to let local residents know about work being carried out in their area by our teams.

“At any one time there are around 70 separate sets of planned roadworks taking place across our county every day, the majority of which are utility company works to maintain and improve their gas, water, electricity and telecoms services.

"These private companies are responsible for letting people know about this work.

“On top of this, there are many emergency repairs over which we have no control and we have to allow these to take priority to maintain essential services for local residents.

"Unfortunately, due to the emergency nature of these works it may inevitably lead to some disruption if planned roadworks are already happening in the area.

“Please be assured when working to coordinate our roadworks we take lots of things into consideration including the types of traffic management required, such as traffic lights and road closures, other works happening in the area or any planned diversion routes.

“Before we start any work we provide information for our contractors to share with residents, including letters and notices attached to streetlights and installing temporary information signs of the forthcoming work.

“Where we complete work early we would always look to re-open routes as soon as possible.

“In Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire particularly, there are also a large number of new housing developments, providing new local homes for local people, which have to be connected to the utilities buried below our main roads.

“Our residents, quite rightly, expect us to maintain and fix our roads and we are working hard to do this but inevitably this will mean some delays for which we apologise.’’

The council has encouraged residents to plan their journeys ahead by keeping up to date with all planned roadworks at a dedicate online portal at https://one.network/en-gb.