Sign-off on £225m A38 improvement work hit by three-month Covid delay
DECISION ON THREE-YEAR PROJECT NOW EXPECTED NEXT YEAR
MAJOR multi-million-pound plans to overhaul the A38 through Derby have been delayed by Covid-19.
The £225 million Highways England scheme would see three key junctions in Derby overhauled in a bid to reduce congestion, improve journey times and crack down on pollution.
If approved by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, construction was due to start in March next year. A decision had been expected this autumn.
However, South Derbyshire District Council says this has now been pushed back three months due to the pandemic.
A decision is now expected from Mr Shapps by March, confirms Highways England, and construction could now start in July, says the district council.
If the grade separation plans are approved, routes through Kingsway and Markeaton Island would become underpasses. The Little Eaton route would become a flyover.
Work was expected to take three years to complete, finishing in September 2024.
Highways England still hopes to complete the scheme “as early as possible in the 2024-25 financial year”.
Chris Nash, a district council planning officer, said during a meeting this week he had received a letter from Highways England updating the authority on the A38 improvement scheme.
He read the letter aloud, saying: “Due to the pandemic earlier in the year, the inquiry programme was delayed slightly and other matters have also taken precedence which means the Secretary of State’s intended decision on the examination of the development consent order is now not going to be next month, but it will be issued in January.
“That then means the construction on the grade separation works has slipped also by three months to July next year.”
A Highways England spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the extension of the deadline to the application for the A38 Derby junctions development consent order and we will continue to work hard to make progress on this important project.”
In a written statement to Parliament, in mid-May, Mr Shapps said: “The decision…is not taken lightly and reflects the exceptional public health circumstances the country finds itself in.
“The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant development consent.”
A group of Derby residents are fighting to save “potentially hundreds” of trees which could be axed to make way for the major roadworks project.
The residents, who live close to Markeaton Park, have tied dozens of ribbons to trees in the area which could be demolished to make way for the A38 improvements.
In a planning meeting this week, councillors also approved plans which would remove a cap on how many homes developers behind a 1,100-home scheme can build before the works are complete.
Firms CEG Land Promotions Limited and Robert William Walmsley had applied to change a promise agreed in October 2018 as part of approved plans to build hundreds of homes at New House Farm, Mickleover. They have asked South Derbyshire District Council if it can move families in to more than 317 homes before works to improve the A38, at Kingsway, are complete.
Developers, in agreement with council planners, say it is likely they would not be able to fill anywhere near 317 homes before the A38 is complete. This is due to slip further with social-distancing restrictions hitting the pace of construction, the firms say.
Developers say they expect to sell 65 homes by March 2021 when work on the A38 had been expected to start.
It says by the time the opening of the new Kingsway in March 2023 (which has now slipped) it could have filled 255 homes.
The council says only 16 homes have currently been filled on the site, which is being built by housebuilder Avant.
Kieran Griffin, an objecting resident, said during the meeting he was “greatly concerned” at the plans.
Mr Griffin said that he, as a doctor, feared the removal of the condition could have life-affecting consequences for those in emergency vehicles trying to get to the Royal Derby Hospital.
An agent for the applicants said: “It is not conceivable for two housebuilders to work on this site at the same time. Covid measures introduced today will further slow the delivery of houses.
We will continue to work hard to make progress on this important project
Highways England