Can anyone help?
How long have the temporary traffic lights been on the B5056, just past Bradbourne Mill. I am sure they must have been up at least 6 months, any ideas on how we can get the work moving? Also have you noticed how much the road has slipped returning from Ashbourne just past The Bentley Brook, it must be a couple of inches (5 cms) and they only patched that again recently.
(update 3/4/08 – I have reported it to DCC – they have to report back – may take several weeks just for this to happen – see comments below for more details)
PARWICH.ORG 
Good question Jane! The fundamental problem with the A5056 (or is it the B5056?) is that it is totally unsuitable for the size and weight of traffic now using it, and is therfore disintegrating along a significant proportion of its length between the Parwich turning and The Bentley Brook. I recall reading a statistic which stated that the journey of 1 HGV is equal to the passage of 10,000 cars in terms of the impact on the road surface (I cannot quote the source, and so that remains my heresay), however, you only need to run along the slow lane of any motorway to realise the impact of HGV’s on the surface of the highway.
That being said, the wagons must use the road, and therefore it seems the only solution is to invest in upgrading this particular strtetch of road, which will entail a heavy investment by someone. The question is who is going to come up with the ready’s to do it?
There is no doubt that the present situation cannot be sustained. The road is a very dangerous one now, for a number of reason including the state of its surface, and it’s not getting any safer.
It would help if the traffic lights to which you refer are actually maintained in good working order, but in my experience, at least 10% of the time, they are not working properly, encourage a regular game of russian roulette to negotiate them!
You are absolutely right it is a vital road for locals & all the quarry vehicles, so therefore you would think that it is even more important to maintain the road. It is the B5056. This evening coming back from work, yet again the lights were frozen on red & as you say it is like russian roulette.
Maybe we all need to start bombarding Derbyshire County Council with emails about this matter. I’ll try them tomorrow & keep the blog up to date.
I tried to log on to the County Council’s website (www.derbyshire.gov.uk) to get any relevant email addresses, but they seem to be having problems with it today. I couldn’t get on this morning either.
I have got on the County Councils website at last, and the page which gives you access to their on-line road fault reporting and information about temporary traffic lights is http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_roads/
I have submitted the following via the County Council’s on-line road fault form at the link given by Pheadair above, referring them to our site:
As you can see from this link to our village website (https://parwich.org/2008/04/02/temporary-traffic-lights/#comment-151) there is concern about the state of the B5056 (between Fenny Bently and the Bradbourne turning): both the state of the road surface and edges to the road, and the unreliability of the temporary lights are of concern to local residents. Lorries using the road is essential to the local economy but it is in need of more work.
at one point this road will fall down the side of the hill that it was built on. I have for many years been praying that i am not on it at the time is chooses to go. The council will probably do nothing about it apart from erect more lights. The readys as they are called should probably come from the quarry as it is their vehicles that are probably casuing the problems, but hey ho been going on for years why worry now. I am not sure why they can’t be sent via the longcliffe route but am sure there will be a reason
Just rung Derbyshire County Council – 01629 580000 & I was put through to extn 3104. I have reported a) state of the road near the Bentley Brook Pub, b) when is the barrier going to be repaired so that we can be rid of the temporary lights.
On DCC’s website you can report any problems of temporary lights but these lights I can’t find listed. Is it because the authority has forgotten about them & they are really more like ‘permanent ones’. They say that the lights are the responsibility of the utilities, I said therefore it is your (DCC) responsibility because of the damage created to the barrier.
They have given me a case number 231179 and a report will be carrier out and given to the highways officier – could take several weeks.
Maybe we all need to start ringing them & reporting it.
There is an 08456 058 058 number but if you get free daytime calls it is cheaper to ring the number I have listed at the top.
It does seem strange that the so-called “temporary” lights aren’t listed on the council’s own directory of temporary lights. If they were listed, then they would also have to provide an End Date.
This leads me to wonder whether a) they have been forgotten about or b) they have been designated as (shudder!) permanent.
At the very least, shouldn’t they at least offer an explanation as to why the lights aren’t listed?
One more thing: the direct contact for temporary traffic lights in our area is called David Nicholson. He can be reached on 01629 580000 ext: 7685.
I have just been onto Derbyshire County Council again, with regard to the not so ‘temporary’ traffic lights. I have spoken to David Nicholson 01629 580000 extn 7685 and the lights will be present for at least another 12 months minimum. Apparently a new wall has to be built, but so that it is not undermined by the river, (”a unique problem in Derbyshire”) then the barrier is added to comply with current standards. Their design teams are looking at the problem and the cost will be in excess of £300,000 (cynically- is this the real problem). I did suggest that maybe the problem wasn’t unique in the country & do their designers contact other authoritities to share information & ideas? The reply was “No”.
The reason that the lights do not always work is because according to DCC someone is regularly tampering with them!
This blog can also be found with the comments in the blog below, but I felt this information was important enough to stand alone.
Delighted to see that the road slip near The Bentley Brook has been patched, as of yesterday.