Chatsworth Road proposal is ‘very strongly opposed by virtually all residents' – says Chesterfield Civic Society

Chairman Philip Riden said: “The Civic Society remains implacably opposed to the building of a high-speed, two-way cycle track along the north side of Chatsworth Road between its junctions with Holymoor Road and Storrs Road. This proposal will make an already busy main road more dangerous for other road users. We do not believe that serious damage should be done to the road purely for the benefit of a small number of recreational cyclists.

“Most people travel around Chesterfield on foot or by bus and car, not on bicycles, and nothing the county council does is likely to change that. The scheme will make Chatsworth Road more difficult to negotiate than at present for the very large number of heavy goods vehicles that use the road.

“The Chatsworth Road proposal is very strongly opposed by virtually all local residents who have expressed a view on the subject. Some 350 people attended a public meeting this time last year, whose views the county council have ignored.They have likewise ignored the views of over 400 people who responded to their recent consultation by stating that they were opposed to the scheme. We are sceptical that all the responses to the consultation said to be in favour of the scheme were from residents of Chesterfield.

“The county council has from the start behaved in a way that is wholly undemocratic by ignoring local public opinion, and appears to be going ahead with the scheme purely because it has been offered funding from central government.

“This is a waste of the public’s money. We remain hopeful that in the forthcoming Autumn Statement the Government will require the Department for Transport to make sufficiently large reductions in its expenditure that the whole of the Active Travel Programme, which nationally has wasted millions of pounds on pointless schemes like the one proposed for Chesterfield, will be scrapped. Nothing else, it seems, will prevent Derbyshire County Council going ahead with the scheme.”

Derbyshire County Council revealed that, in total, 1,240 people responded to the widely publicised consultation concerning the proposals. They said 741 people supported the cycle lane on Chatsworth Road, with 430 objecting.

For the Crow Lane closure, 752 people supported this with 416 people objecting. 980 people supported the 30mph extension on Chatsworth Road, with 178 objections. For the cycle lane on Chatsworth Road 741 people supported this, with 430 objecting.

The council also received two petitions, one supporting the closure of Crow Lane, with 522 signatures, and one against the closure with 744 signatures.

In total, adding together the results of the consultation and the results of the petition, more people wanted Crow Lane to close permanently than not (738 or 51% of people were for, 638 or 44% were against, and 72 or 5% abstained.)

Work starts on some sections of the route this autumn. Crow Lane will close permanently at some point in the new year, once work to create a cycle and walking route from the station to the start of the closed Crow Lane section has taken place.

Cabinet member for highways assets and transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said: “We have listened carefully to what people told us in the consultation and looked at all the alternatives given.

“Creating this route across Chesterfield will give many more people the opportunity to get out of their cars, and either walk or cycle to get into town, or up to the hospital.

“We know that many hospital staff walked or cycled on Crow Lane at the height of the pandemic, and we would expect numbers to increase when the lane closes to vehicles again for good.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said they were not aware that there were issues with the website and the 95 per cent of total respondents were located in Derbyshire with over 85 per cent located in Chesterfield.

They said the scheme has been designed in-line with the latest guidance for cycle infrastructure and has been road safety audited and emergency services had been consulted and no issues raised.