The road suffered a major landslip in November 2022 and has been closed since. The site and a potential repair was initially under consideration by Severn Trent, as they have a major water pipe running near the area which makes repairs more challenging, but they passed the issue back to us in late 2023.
We have since been working on potential solutions. After a period of ground testing and investigation last summer, work is now complete on the preliminary detailed designs and costings of the work needed to rebuild and then reopen the road to vehicles.
The next steps, which are now starting are to work with a pre-contractor to support the final design and construction scheme, while also carrying out any negotiations needed for the land that might need to be used to carry out the fix, as well as continuing discussions with Severn Trent about their large water pipe.
The proposed scheme, which has been backed up by the tests and extensive ground work done last year, is for a mini-piled solution, which will then support a new retaining wall where the slip occurred and support the reconstructed road.
The anticipated cost of the project is £1million and it is proposed to start the works as soon as possible, but this will probably be in the summer of 2026.
Councillor Charlotte Cupit, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, and Julian Gould, Highways Director, attended a recent Dethick, Lea and Holloway Parish Council meeting to provide this update on the progress of the repair plans to local residents.
Councillor Cupit explained the current situation:
“From the regular conversations we have with the local community, we do realise how much this road closure is affecting the local community and local businesses.
“We know the closure is frustrating for the communities it impacts, but we have had to do all the specialised and necessary ground investigations and design work so we can be sure that the final solution will work for the long term and hold the road up. This is complicated by the difficult geology in the area and the site constraints, so our experts have designed the proposed solution to try to have the least impact – and even that the necessary machinery can get to site.
“We need to now carry out the final construction plans and land negotiations over the coming months. As the work needs to take place over the summer period, again due to ground conditions, we therefore anticipate the works can take place in the summer of 2026.
“Clearly this is a significant project with a significant cost to match. As we have highlighted recently in relation to other landslips, in Derbyshire we don’t get any funding specifically for landslips, despite currently managing over 200 landslips in the county. Therefore, any landslip repairs we carry out currently comes from our wider highways budget, which is already under pressure and frankly not enough as we try to carry out as much road resurfacing as we can.
“We still do not yet know what level of highways funding we will have from the Government for the next financial year yet, what conditions will be attached to it (as they’ve indicated there will be an incentive element – as if needed any to fix our roads!) or how it might be broken up and drip fed to us across the year.
“So while I am committing to fix the landslip at Leashaw, I again urge both Government and our regional Mayor to make sure this project does not have to be financed from our wider highways budget. Instead, I appeal for a specific landslip grant fund for Leashaw and other landslips, such as the one above Beeley and of course Snake Pass, to qualify for regeneration investment through the recently announced mayoral grant money for major transport projects in the region.
“We need to restore and look after our key road network first, so we hope for cross-party and mayoral support in delivering this project without impacting our highways budget.”