Council to close Derbyshire road after new landslip damage

The county council has discovered signs of further movement on Lea Road, between Cromford and Crich, and found cracks 500m from the original landslip that closed the route before it was fully repaired and re-laid 16 months ago.

As a result, the council is closing the road on Sunday, April 21, to make temporary repairs and carry out investigations, with some initial work to take place over the next few days.

Lea Road had been closed from January 2020 to December 2022 – two years – after heavy rainfall caused a 45-metre stretch of the route to slip. This led to extensive disruption for residents who faced two years of lengthy diversions on routes less suitable for regular travel, they said at the time.

The council said some movement had been spotted on Lea Road in January but this development appears to have elevated the level of concern.

It wrote in an update to residents: “As you may have noticed, Lea Road, close to the site of the previous landslip, is unfortunately showing some signs of movement.

“We are planning to close the road on Sunday, April 21, so that we can make some temporary repairs and do some further investigative work. We realise that this closure will cause some inconvenience, and we apologise for this. We’ve planned it for a Sunday outside of half-term to try to minimise any disruption.

“In the run-up to this work we have put some temporary traffic lights on the road, installed yesterday to allow some investigation works over the next few weeks too. It is planned for these to be removed after the work is done, on April 22.”

In early March, county council officials told more than 90 residents at a Dethick, Lea and Holloway Parish Council meeting that Leashaw, another landslip-hit route nearby, would remain closed until at least the summer of 2025.That route had closed in November 2022, a month before the Lea Road route reopened, after heavy rainfall led to a 40-metre landslip.

This left the local community without relief from routes in their area being heavily affected.