A councillor has called for vehicle weight restrictions to further address residents’ traffic safety concerns by reducing the number of lorries moving along a worrying junction near Staveley which has already been the subject of a campaign for traffic lights.
Staveley Town Cllr Paul Mann believes one of the main problem at the Inkersall Road and Inkersall Green Road junction, near Staveley, is the movement of HGVs through this area and he is calling upon Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority to introduce a weight restriction along the roads with signage to deter lorries directed through this area via Sat Navs and travel apps.
The council has already confirmed a new, nearby Hollins Strategic Land housing development will involve the installation of traffic lights at the junction and the authority has already reduced the speed limit from 60mph to 40mph through the area and along other parts of Inkersall Road and Inkersall Green Road not far from Inkersall Primary School.
Cllr Mann said: “The road needs resurfacing and the traffic lights are going to be done as part of the planning application and I have contacted the new Reform UK Derbyshire County Councillor for Staveley Dawn Abbot about when this is going to happen and I have also contacted Chesterfield Borough Council’s planning department but they could not give a date when it will be finished.
“For now a lot of lorries come through Inkersall because of the housing development and they were asked to take a detour at one bit. I followed one big lorry coming off another development site and it turned right down Inkersall Green Road and straight past the school and down to Troughbrook so I have asked the county council for a weight restriction in the area.”
Cllr Mann, who oversees the Hollingwood ward, suggested there has been some reluctance to impose a weight restriction to divert lorries elsewhere because Derbyshire Constabulary may struggle to enforce the restriction but he feels SAT NAV systems and traffic apps used by lorry drivers would divert wagons away from any official highway restrictions.
He added: “I have urged Derbyshire County Council to do their job and then the police can be asked to do theirs by enforcing any weight restrictions and stopping lorries going along these roads.
“By putting in the signs SAT NAV and travel apps will redirect lorry drivers but until the signs are put in the problems won’t change.”
Staveley Town Cllr Mick Bagshaw, who officially oversees Duckmanton, says he has been campaigning for safety measures at the junction of Inkersall Road and Inkersall Green Road for many years and he has been campaigning for the traffic lights to be installed as soon as possible before the completion of the housing scheme for around 400 homes.
He believes the junction has become too ‘dangerous’ after so many accidents over the years and that something needs to be done quickly before ‘another serious accident takes place’.
The county council has confirmed that a new set of traffic lights will be paid for by the housing developer and they will be installed at the junction in the future which the authority is also keen to see happen but it does not currently have a timescale on when this may happen.
Derbyshire County Council was given an opportunity to comment on the request for vehicle weight restrictions near the junction, but it has not yet provided a statement.
