£13m bypass in doubt with firm in administration

COLLAPSE OF CONTRACTOR PUTS END DATE FOR SCHEME UP IN AIR

A CONSTRUCTION firm building a bypass has gone into administration.

NMCN, which was heading up the £13 million congestion-easing bypass scheme for Woodville, went into administration last week, leaving an end date for the road scheme now up in the air.

The Nottingham firm had suffered cash flow issues through the height of the pandemic, but work on site had continued.

The original end date for work had been the end of last month.

Derbyshire County Council, which funded the scheme, said efforts were now under way to get the bypass completed quickly.

“Much of the work to build the road linking Woodville and Swadlincote is finished and we’re in discussions with our contractors and their administrators in order to complete the project as soon as possible,” a council spokesman said.

Set to benefit residents of Ashby, Moira and other parts of North West Leicestershire, the road, part of the Woodville to Swadlincote regeneration route, aims to ease congestion at Woodville’s Tollgate Island.

The overcrowded road can see tailbacks stretch over the county boundary line on the A511 Ashby Road.

Running between Occupation Lane and Kiln Way in Swadlincote, the bypass will lead drivers on to the Woodhouse Street junction with Derby Road. The scheme also involves the construction of 300 homes and commercial units along the route – a move expected to create more than 3,000 jobs. The collapse is thought to put at least 80 jobs within NMCN’s building division at risk.

We’re in discussions to complete the project as soon as possible

Derbyshire County Council spokesman