Lea Road has had a further landslip, following heavy rain last weekend.
The road, which is near Cromford, first slipped in January 2020, and work started earlier this year to fix it. This work had to stop in May as engineers found the landslip was still moving and had cracked a sewer pipe running underneath. The pipe was mended and work was due to begin again this November.
Engineers found the new collapse when they went to make a routine inspection on Monday 1 November. The temporary piling platform, which was built to allow the installation of retaining piles, has slipped around 2 meters down towards the river.
The council will now undertake extensive discussions with specialist contractors and design engineers to revise the installation method and parts of the design to take into consideration the reduced and still reducing stability of the slope.
Tests show that the sewer pipes and telecoms equipment under the road surface have not been affected in this latest slip.
Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said:
“This is a bitter disappointment for everyone involved, and I know will be for all those who live locally and have not been able to use Lea Road for so long.
“Our engineers are working with specialist contractors to find the best solution to fix this new damage and get this project back on track. Unfortunately, the climate is not being kind to us, and the heavy rain over the weekend meant that work we had done was swept away.
“We are doing all we can to find a solution, and as soon as we have a plan and new timescales, we will let local people know.
“We are so sorry for the inconvenience this is causing and thank everyone for their patience.”
