Toby Perkins MP issues update on Chesterfield-Staveley bypass – as Government steps in to provide funding for £166m scheme

The Chesterfield-Staveley Regeneration Route is a £166m project which aims to reduce congestion, create new jobs and open up a growth corridor for businesses as part of a series of regeneration schemes for the region.

The proposed 3.7 mile bypass has been earmarked to run from the roundabout at Sainsbury’s supermarket, on the A619 in Chesterfield, to the Heritage Green Estate – before finishing at Hall Lane in Staveley.

Connected plans include opening disused former industrial land for housing, potentially including 1,800 new homes – as well as creating an estimated 3,400 jobs from new businesses.

In November, however, Derbyshire County Council (DCC) paused work on the planned route. The authority faces a £34.1m budget deficit, and was awaiting confirmation of any Conservative Government funding for the scheme.

Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, met with Guy Opperman (Minister for Roads and Local Transport) yesterday evening to discuss the project.

Toby said: “It has been a considerable task to get a meeting to discuss this project with the Roads Minister, but happily I was able to meet with him yesterday to reiterate our determination to improve the flow of traffic that brings daily misery to many Brimington and Staveley residents, and reap the economic benefits of improved access to the M1 for people travelling to, from and through the north of Chesterfield.

”The Minister informed me that following the entreaties of myself and others, the government are stepping in to provide the additional funding so that the full amount that DCC initially projected for the build will be provided by central government.

“However, there is now a need for more detailed investigation of contaminants in the land as the route will go through a considerable amount of former industrial land and it is important to establish what additional costs might reveal themselves once the construction begins.”

Toby said that £3.4m had been requested from the Department for Transport (DfT) to fund this investigation, but added that it would take some time before this work was completed.

“There is a request in with DfT for around £3.4m to perform the investigatory works which would then need to be carried out by or on behalf of DCC. Given the parlous state of DCC’s finances, I am hoping that central government might cover all the costs of this investigatory work.

“The Minister said that we should expect an answer by the summer about who will pay for that work to take place and has promised that he will expedite that work being looked at. It is likely that once that work has been commissioned it will take several months before it is completed, meaning that a final decision by both DCC and DfT on whether the costs of the system are likely to rise further will not be taken until 2025 at the earliest.

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“I expressed the urgency of this project and will continue to work with anyone who is interested in bringing this new route forward.”