Derbyshire potholes claimed to be caused by cycle lane works – but council says they are due to extreme weather

A Derbyshire resident says her car was damaged by a pothole she claims was created by workers building a cycle lane in a village on the outskirts of Chesterfield – but the county council responsible for the road says that extreme weather events are to blame for the problem.

Works are currently taking place to create a new walking and cycling route along the A619 Chatsworth Road to the west of Chesterfield, with the help of £1.68 million in funding from Active Travel England.

But Nicci Fletcher has blamed a “huge pothole” that she claims was left by workers for damaging her car earlier in December, and says that when she went back the following day to take photographs she discovered that several other vehicles had sustained similar damage, reports the Derbyshire Times.

She also said that it had proved impossible to contact Derbyshire County Council to alert them to the road defects.

“I tried to contact DCC’s highways team, but their message advised to contact the police on 101,” she said. “Another affected driver tried 101, but the wait times were ridiculous. I left the driver contacting 999, as it was evident this was going to become a serious incident.”

While the potholes have subsequently been prepared, she described the experience as “an absolute nightmare” and believes they were caused by workers building the cycle lane.

“They obviously forgot to fill them in, or didn’t fill them in properly, and that has caused carnage – it’s not good at all,” she insisted.

She also criticised the disruption caused by the works on the cycling and walking infrastructure, which is at the western end of a longer route link the town centre with the train station and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

According to a statement from the council earlier this year, “The new walking and cycling route, once completed, will give a real alternative to taking the car for short journeys across Chesterfield, which is for the benefit of everyone who lives, works or visits the town.

“Fewer car journeys will bring health benefits to the whole town including cleaner air.”

But Ms Fletcher questioned how popular the cycle lane will be once it has been built, saying: “How many people are seriously going to use that bike lane? I’ve got a mountain bike and I cross Chatsworth Road to get to the track.

“Why would anybody want to cycle on Chatsworth Road – the lorries are ridiculous. I just think, they’re spending all that money when you’re dodging potholes everywhere in Chesterfield.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said that recent poor weather was to blame for the potholes.

“We were aware of the issues caused on Chatsworth Road, which were related to a drop in some temporary surfacing as a result of poor weather conditions, in particular the amount of rain we have had recently,” they said

“We took action to resolve this and are continuing to monitor the work to ensure no further problems occur.

“We apologise for any disruption caused by the cycle lane works but we are trying to keep this to a minimum for all highway users. The works are due to be complete by the end of March and we are currently on target to meet that, weather-permitting.”

The spokesperson pointed out that it was not possible to use the funding for other purposes, saying: “The cycle lane is funded by a ringfenced Active Travel government grant so cannot be reallocated.

“We are investing in our roads across the county through our major capital programme. We have also increased the number of teams working to fix potholes and are using hotboxes to try to give longer term fixes wherever we can.

“The extreme weather events over recent months have caused lots of damage to our highways network and the continued bad weather is making this more challenging but we are doing our best and working round the clock,” the spokesperson continued.

In November, the government announced that £8.3 billion of funding previously allocated to the HS2 project would instead be used to pay for repairs to roads across England over the next 11 years, with Derbyshire receiving £3 million for 2023/24.

The spokesperson added that the county council is “also making the best use of the additional government grant funding for pothole repairs received over the last few months and continuing to make the case to government for additional longer term funding and investment in our roads.”