Staveley councillor calls for action on ‘dangerous’ road as major development leads to damaged cars and 'near-fatal' incidents

Councillor Dean Rhodes, who represents Inkersall Green on Staveley Town Council, said that work at the housing development off Inkersall Road was leaving mud and debris along the route.

He has already received several reports of incidents on the busy road between Inkersall and Staveley, and said that some could have had potentially fatal consequences.

“There’s plenty of evidence to show that we’ve got a real problem. I’ve had multiple people contact me – including somebody with a child in their car who had nearly crashed into the back of somebody else.

“One resident hit a large rock on the road and had damage to their car tyre, but what happened could’ve been even worse. The car has cost money to be repaired, but your life can’t be repaired. With the size of the rock that they hit, it’s a wonder it didn’t flip the car over.

“That could have caused some damage to this individual and their family – and that road has a 60mph speed limit. If he was going at that speed and hit that rock, he would have been in a mess. The worst case scenario is that he might not have been with us.”

Coun Rhodes also expressed concerns that, as temperatures plummet, the already dangerous road will be impacted by ice – only making a collision more likely.

“When it gets colder, what’s going to happen when the road ices over? It gets thick with it at times, and that road sweeper can’t keep going up and down there in winter putting water on the road for it to freeze. We shouldn’t have to put up with a dangerous highway.

“The answer isn’t for us to have to go another way round. Your road tax is paid and you’ve got a right to drive on any road you want – you shouldn’t have to take diversions because of mud and rocks.”

Coun Rhodes added that he was not opposed to the development, but wanted to ensure the safety of everyone who uses the route while work at the site continues.

“This development is not going to go away in two or three months, it’s going to be ongoing for a few years to come. I have no objections to these developments, but I have a duty of care to report anything I feel is dangerous to members of the public.

“If we don’t nip it in the bud and something does happen, it will be on my conscience. They need to be down there and taking a look.

“There’s been a lot of people trying to look into this. I’ve been on it continuously, on the phone to different people, and I’m not getting anywhere.

“It’s not that I don't want the development to go ahead. I want Staveley to thrive and I want people to live here, but I want people to also be safe around us. A wheel wash might cost them thousands, but they’ll make that back on one house.”

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A spokesperson for Barratt and David Wilson Homes Sheffield said: “We are sorry for any inconvenience that may have been caused due to mud on the road near our development on Inkersall Road. We have put in place measures to reduce this including a manned jet wheel wash and daily road sweeper visits.

“The Highways Inspector visited the development recently and is happy with our approach to minimise the mud on the road. We take any complaint seriously and will continue to review our measures with our site team and contractors.”

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We’re aware of the issues raised about this road and we have been in regular contact with the site contractors since work started.

“The contractor has put in place two road sweepers on permanent hire throughout the working day, covering both site entrances and exits and they also cover the local roads between the two site entrances.

“We also asked the contractor to install jet washes on both entrances and exits which have been operating on a regular basis to make sure every construction vehicle leaving the site has clean wheels. We’ve also asked them to install warning signs to alert other drivers too.

“Both site entrance and exits have also recently been resurfaced which should help to cut down on the mud and there should be a reduction in construction traffic as work to create and re-surface roads on the site is almost complete.”