The works to rebuild the road have been complex due to the challenges involved with working on an active landslip. After the initial landslip in 2020, work started to fix it the following year but had to stop in May 2021 as the ground started moving again.
Work was due to start again in November 2021 when the road suffered a further collapse. This second slip was more serious and the scale of the movement caused a temporary piling platform, which was built to allow the installation of retaining piles, to move around 2 meters down towards the river.
Engineers then found a new solution and work has been underway since the summer of 2022 to rebuild it. This new solution included building into the riverbed and making a rock wall, which was built up and backfilled to the road level. Special permission to build in the riverbed had to be sought from the Environment Agency.
Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, Councillor Carolyn Renwick, said:
“I’m delighted that the road is to reopen, and know how much this will mean to everyone who lives and has businesses locally.
“Landslips are notoriously difficult to fix, particularly if they keep moving like this one did.
“But after an awful lot of hard work by our officers and contractors it will reopen around noon on 2 December 2022.
“I’d like to thank everyone locally for their patience and understanding while the road was fixed.”
A new stone wall has been built along the edge of the road using local materials. Overhanging vegetation has been removed and additional surface water drainage has been included to reduce flooding.
Bus services which serve the local area will return to normal service.
Climate change is a major cause of landslips across Derbyshire with heavy rainfall causing the shale rock beneath the ground to become unstable.
