CONNECTING DERBY

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Costs for the inner ring road were estimated at £10.8m but for all work to be completed the amount will rise to almost £13m. The city council's assistant director of highways and transport Christine Durrant, said unforeseen problems had contributed to rising costs. The council has applied for extra funding to cover the cost of completing a new footbridge. If the Department for Transport funding appeal is not successful, Ms Durrant said some capital funding had been set aside and cabinet members would be asked to approve the extra costs.

Ms Durrant said costs had risen for a number of reasons and said, "We had to put the pumping station in at a lower level than we thought because of unforeseen ground conditions. Also inflation in the construction industry has risen above anything else, especially with the rising price of steel which we used for the new barrier system. This is a very difficult project and we have made a significant improvement to the look of the area, it's a real benefit to the city." (Source: BBC News, Apr/07)

A new £1m wider footbridge over St Alkmund's Way, which links the city centre to St Mary's Church, is set to begin next month. The city council is hoping to secure £819,000 of funding from the Department for Transport for the work. The is despite the plans not yet having been approved and funding not yet being secured. The bridge is scheduled to be dismantled over two weeks in May and the replacement installed in August.

The council has secured £500,000 from Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, £300,000 of which will be used to make the footbridge five metres wide rather than three metres, and the remaining £200,000 to improve the public areas next to the bridge. As well as building a wider bridge, the extra money will also be used to make sure it includes a cycle path. Plans to replace the bridge were originally included in the inner ring road scheme.

Councillor Chris Wynn, Derby council cabinet member for planning and highways, said he thought the final plans would be exciting. He said, "The design with the bobbins and billowing silk idea will tie in well with the Silk Mill. I think this will be very exciting when it comes to fruition." The council said that for the bridge work to go ahead on time it needed to start ordering steel before funding was approved. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/07)

Following the inner ring road signs in Derby can be confusing. In essence, the road is a contradiction in terms. The "ring" does not encircle the city. Rather, a collection of roads, including the unofficial link, Abbey Street, plus city-centre streets, leads you from Bradshaw Way to the rest of the inner ring road at Ford Street. Derby City Council is determined to proceed with the plans which, it says, will make a big difference to residents.

In addition, public transport will be "much-improved" with bus lanes planned for the city ends of Normanton Road, Burton Road, Uttoxeter New Road, Friargate and King Street, plus cycle routes. But people fighting the plans say it will create more congestion, particularly with the proposed development of the Eagle Centre and Riverlights. The city council wants to demolish about 20 properties, which include houses and businesses in private ownership, as part of the scheme.

The current traffic fiasco at Five Lamps will be repeated tenfold across the city by the time the Connecting Derby scheme is completed. The first planning application for Phase 2 is now out and needs to be objected to by Christmas. Not revealed by this application are the many proposed road closures which will accompany Connecting Derby, forcing thousands more people to use the ring road.

What are now short journeys across our small city centre will become long, congested traffic crawls along the ring road. Connecting Derby is clearly designed to serve Cityscape and its developers and ignore the residents of Derby. The decision by the cabinet members of Derby City Council to compulsorily purchase and displace well over 200 small businesses and traders to promote a huge American-style mall (the new Eagle Centre) is typical of the council's undemocratic approach.

A resident displaying a banner outside his house protesting against plans to complete Derby inner ring road has been told to take it down. Trevor Lloyd-Davies believes his listed home in Friargate is threatened by the city council's Connecting Derby road improvement plans. To make his point, he has hung a 12ft banner - emblazoned with Save our City - from his house.

But the move has not gone down well with Derby City Council, which yesterday ordered him to remove the banner from the side of the Grade 2*-listed house where he has lived for the past five years. Mr Lloyd-Davies is a member of Derby Heritage and Environmental Association for Residents and Traders (Heart), the opponents of Derby City Council's £22.5m inner ring road scheme, which paid for the banner.

Mr Lloyd-Davies, who is a chiropodist, said, "They are going to build a stonking dual carriageway outside my house. I think we should save our city. We should try to preserve what we've got. I feel so strongly about this. I think putting the banner up is such a small thing compared with what the council want to do, which is build a huge carriageway through the centre of Derby. We're hoping residents will support us. If they're not going to let people have an input and put forward our ideas, then I'm afraid the only thing we can do is protest."

But Councillor Sara Bolton, Derby City Council cabinet member for planning and prosperity, said Mr Lloyd-Davies would receive a letter telling him to remove the banner with immediate effect. She said, " Anyone putting up an advertisement of that size in the conservation area needs permission. He's not applied for permission and will be asked to remove it or we'll take the matter further." Mr Lloyd-Davies' home is only yards from three 10ft high advertising hoardings currently carrying advertisements for cigarettes and cut-price holidays and also an anti-smoking campaign.

The council later prosecuted Mr Lloyd-Davies. Click here

Ellen Hutchings, Chester Green resident and Derby Heart chairman, said, "Houses like that have virtually no foundations and the construction of a new road will damage the building. We want to alert the public to what is happening. We believe the inner ring road will destroy the city. We want a public inquiry so everybody can have an opinion."

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