Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Eddie Bisknell
Work is due to start this summer on a landslip-hit Derbyshire road which will have been closed for four years by the time repairs are completed.
Derbyshire County Council says work is due to start in late July on the Leashaw landslip, near Holloway, between Crich and Matlock.
Leashaw has been closed since November 2022 when a 40-metre stretch of the well-used rural route crumbled down the steep hillside following heavy rainfall.
Work on the route will be carried out by CT Construction, based in Chinley, the county council said, with an aim for works to be completed by November.
This will include a total of 20 weeks of works, which the council previously said would cost £1.1 million, forming one of the most expensive landslip repairs progressed by the county council.
Although the council said possible delays could occur due to unexpected issues and weather conditions.
Repairs to Leashaw will involve a new retaining wall and “mini” steel piles deep into the rockface below the road which would aim to hold the route in place.
Its closure has left Holloway residents with a detour for typical journeys, more pressure on other routes and significant issues with maintaining custom for their businesses.
The £1.1 million repair forms part of a £7 million landslip repair plan for the current financial year, to tackle a handful of the 221 landslips across Derbyshire.
Initial repairs to Leashaw had been due to be completed by summer 2025, before work was delayed to start in summer 2026.
The landslip in Station Road, Bakewell, is to receive the most new funding at £2.4 million, followed by Chesterfield Road in Beeley and Commonside in Barlow with £1.5 million each, £1.1 million for Leashaw and £500,000 for Mam Nick in Edale.
Larger landslip repairs, such as those on Snake Pass, which stretch into the “hundreds of millions of pounds”, are out of reach of the county council, which has lobbied Government and the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
Earlier this year, the Government told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it would not be providing additional assistance or taking on the project itself, as requested by the Labour East Midlands Mayor.
