Proposals to build a relief road in Ashbourne have taken a step forward after Derbyshire County Council submitted a pre-planning application for the development.
The proposals have been put together following a public consultation to choose a preferred route for the road, designed to help tackle congestion in the town
This stage of the project is to have an initial discussion with the council’s planning department about the feasibility of building a road along the preferred route stretching from the A52 Mayfield Road to the A515 Buxton Road close to Sandybrook Hall. The process, which is taking place along with initial ecology surveys in the area around the preferred route, will also highlight any issues which may need to be overcome before a full planning application can be submitted.
Councillor Carolyn Renwick, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said: “Traffic surveys found up to 12,000 vehicles using main routes in Ashbourne each day with almost half of the traffic using the A515 found to be through traffic, with somewhere other than Ashbourne as its end destination.
“We know residents and businesses in Ashbourne have been calling for a new road for a long time to ease traffic congestion and delays which independent consultants estimated to be worth £1.5 million in 2017.
“I’m pleased this project is progressing to the next stage to show exactly what issues we need to overcome before we can submit a planning application, giving us a more accurate estimate of costs so that options for funding can be investigated in the future.”
The proposals are for a single carriageway road with separate provision for pedestrians and cyclists and a further public consultation about the plans would need to be carried out in the run-up to submitting the planning application.
