HOLE IN THE ROAD

Victoria Street and Albert Street remains closed to traffic so that temporary strengthening work can be carried out after a weakness was discovered in a centuries-old bridge beneath the Corn Market and St Peter's Street.

Derby City Council engineers carried out an inspection which revealed that some of the sandstone bricks were starting to come loose and that there had been some deterioration in the strength of the 12-metre-wide bridge, which spans Markeaton Brook as it runs under the city.

Resurfacing work was postponed so that further investigations and repairs could be carried out. Derby City Council's head of engineering design, Denis O'Neill, said, "It's a worry that there's some deterioration to the bridge." Head of traffic, David Gartside, said, "We've been inspecting it and examining the structure over the last couple of years and suddenly the deterioration has got a lot worse, so it has caught us a bit by surprise."

He added, "We obviously wouldn't take the decision lightly to take the action we're actually doing now and close the road. We are seriously concerned that if we don't close the road the structure could collapse and we could end up with quite a serious situation on our hands." It's not known how long the streets will remain closed while repairs take place but a council spokeswoman said that it could be for "several months". (Or, in council terms, A YEAR.)

The council were told it would cost £180,00 to repair but, wouldn't you know it, engineers have discovered more problems in the culvert and the total repair bill, including the bridge, is now estimated at over £500,000. This figure increased to £600,000 in a week. The council has been granted more than £200,000 by the government towards repairing the bridge.

However, the area has proved to be a tourist attraction and there have been calls for the council to leave it open, despite disruption to city traffic. After the council met to discuss the matter, they decided it should be filled in and concreted over and appointed a contractor to carry out the repair work.

Their reason was that it would be too expensive and would cause too many access problems for buses and disabled people. But it's going to cost over £1/2m to fill it in and access hasn't been high on the councils priority list in the past!

Lucy Care, cabinet member for planning, transportation and the environment, said, "This has been an unplanned opportunity to remind people of the history under our feet. Like others, I've discussed the possibility of leaving some of it uncovered, but have to conclude that this would not be practical."

Once again the city council pass up the chance to preserve a piece of Derby history in their continued quest to turn the city into a modern techno sci-fi film set. We can't have Derby looking like Chester or York by making the most of our historic features, can we?

Crossing Victoria Street adjacent to the works currently being carried out as part of Connecting Derby to the long-hidden bridge, I stopped to read the information board. It is highly commendable that the Department of Highways, Transportation and Waste Management of the city council should go to the trouble of providing this, but at the same time extremely unfortunate in that almost all the information on it is wrong!

The bridge is not that ancient, but is a replacement for an ancient one erected in 1787 by the contractor John Finney to the designs of William Strutt, FRS, eldest son of the cotton pioneer Jedediah. He was chairman of the Second Derby Improvement Commission, set up that year, primarily to replace St Mary's Bridge. In the event, Strutt and the Commissioners replaced seven bridges along the course of the Markeaton Brook, too.

The brick vaulting to the immediate east of the bridge was put in place by the Derby Hotel and Improvement Company in 1847-48 when culverting the Brook to create Albert Street; that - not currently visible - to the west, in 1837-39 was to create Victoria Street.

The tramlines we can see may have been put in place in the 1920s, as the notice alleges, but only as replacements, for the tracks were first laid down at this point in the late winter of 1880, prior to the opening of the tramways in March that year. They were certainly replaced prior to electrification in 1904.

I have suggested to the relevant authority that the information panel be replaced with one bearing the correct facts, for the citizens of Derby are bombarded already with misleading facts about our city's past without the council making things worse! Maxwell Craven

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