Landslip-hit Derbyshire road will be closed for years - as business fear they maybe be forced to close

Heavy rainfall caused a 40-metre landslip on Leashaw, between Crich and Matlock, in November 2022 and now the route will remain closed until at least the summer of 2025.

Derbyshire County Council detailed the issues affecting the route and the plans going forward at a public meeting held by Dethick, Lea and Holloway Parish Council last night (March 5).

On a blustery and wet weeknight, more than 90 people crammed into the Florence Nightingale Memorial Hall to hear the update on the slip, with county council officials answering questions from frustrated and angry residents.

Several businesses have closed due to the combined impact of the Leashaw landslip and the three-year closure of Lea Road, which was also hit by a slip in January 2020, opening in December 2022.

There are now fears that other businesses, including Chase Cafe, Robin Maycock Butchers and the Cliff Inn pub, will be forced to close for good if the route does not reopen as soon as possible.

The meeting was told that the county council is currently assessing three options to secure the landslip with contractors carrying out assessments into their viability and the site’s geology.

However, the best time to start work is the summer and county councillor Charlotte Cupit, the cabinet member for highways, who repeated the phrase “sorry I am just giving you bad news tonight”, said the authority is not ready to start this summer.

All three options involve installing piles deep into the rockface below the road which would aim to hold the route in place, with option one involving 12-metre sheet steel piles, option two concrete bore piles and option three – currently preferred – involving “mini piles”.

Option one is considered to be too significant to be viable due to the inaccessibility of the route and the potential damage the works could cause to the very route they are aimed at fixing, accompanied by a much higher cost.

Options two and three are progressively less expensive and intrusive and more viable.

Julian Gould, the council’s highways director, who bore the brunt of criticism from the perturbed audience, said there are currently 270 sites around Derbyshire where ground movement has been detected on roads, and that not all could be monitored.

The meeting was told that the council may need to approach central Government for funding to pay for the eventual landslip solution, depending on which is selected after assessments conclude, with potential costs ranging into the millions of pounds.

Cllr Cupit also detailed that the new East Midlands Combined County Authority, set to appoint a directly elected mayor in May, would also have funding which the council could bid for.

Cllr Joyce Stevenson, vice chair of the parish council, told the meeting there was “deep frustration and anger” in the community over the continued road closure, which has led to “distrust” in the county council.

Mr Gould said the road would continue to move until a solution is installed but that assessments must take place first and the ideal scenario is to observe the slip through all four seasons.

Cllr Cupit said the county council has been writing to Government already to lobby for funding for landslips and potholes and that she was “really sorry” to hear there has been “poor communication” about the situation.

Mr Gould said the road was built in the 1930s and it was not an ideal solution, with the road later referred to as a “tarmacked track”.

He said: “We are reasonably confident that the bulk of the movement is what we have now. The wall has been there 80 years and it has started to move and we have installed a concrete bag repair.”

When asked if a single-track opening could be provided, Cllr Cupit said: “I don’t think in the near future it is a possibility, that is why we need to ramp up the final solution. There is a big concern if pedestrian access and for cyclists and motor vehicles is provided then there would be road safety risks.”

She said a clearer idea of the final designed solution for the site would likely be ready in the next three months, at which point the council would then know how much money it needs and if a bid would be required to either the Government or combined authority.

When pressed for a timeline for works to start, she said: “I would say you would be looking at next summer at the earliest if everything goes perfectly.

Richard Cartledge, co-owner of the Cliff Inn, asked if the council was going to wait until the road had moved “all the way into the Derwent” before taking action.

Tracy, wife and fellow co-owner of the pub, said signage installed by the council did not make it clear businesses were still open and could be accessed and that owners had been “threatened” with fines over installing their own signs.

She also claimed businesses had not been contacted by the council over the closure, which Mr Gould disputed.

However, he said: “We haven’t got the resources to put up signs for all individual businesses. I would hope your customers would know.”

Chris Henning, the council’s executive director of place, said: “We have been in this many many weeks and could be in this situation for maybe 15-18 months more. Please let us look at the options.”

Mr Gould said: “The option of ‘I just want the road open’ cannot just happen overnight. Please work within our parameters.”

Cllr David Taylor, who represents the area on Amber Valley Borough Council and the county council said: “Businesses have suffered. You are all going to survive 15 months. Shops have closed and it is going to kill the village. We have got to clear the bureaucracy and I would like to see the county council give a little bit of leeway and support businesses.”

Cllr Cupit said: “The worst thing would be what happened at Mam Tor where we try and fix it multiple times and then we just have to give up.”

A resident claimed it appeared the council was “making it up as it goes along” and “would have thought you had learned something over the past 100 years”.

Mr Gould said: “We haven’t been dealing with landslips for 100 years. The predominance of landslips has changed due to climate change and this is now a real issue for Derbyshire.”

Mr Henning said the county council is not able to provide compensation but that Severn Trent – which has a water main under the road – is able to do so.

Following the meeting, Mrs Cartledge said she felt “disgusted” at the lack of communication and the comment about customers being expected to know about the road closure and businesses remaining open.