Eastwood Drive/Manor Road - Road Closure Consultation

Previous Work

Derby City Council has, over the years, received numerous complaints from residents in the Eastwood Drive/ North Street area about various traffic management issues. These issues have centred mostly on parking and perceived speeds and volumes of traffic using Eastwood Drive and North Street to access either the Ring Road or Burton Road.

In response, a number of measures were introduced to try and help resolve these issues including:

• A point of No Entry at the junction of Burton Road and North Street to prevent vehicles accessing North Street from Burton Road.
• A Residents Permit Parking Scheme to prevent non-residents from parking on Eastwood Drive and adjoining Streets
• A 20mph limit for the local area

All these measures were supported by local residents and provided some improvement, however, concerns continued to be raised about through traffic and vehicle speeds, especially following important safety improvements to the Manor Road access into Eastwood Drive.

Continuing Concerns

In response to these concerns, local Councillors, on review of local traffic issues and in discussion with Council Officers, selected Eastwood Drive as a traffic priority to be included as part of the Traffic and Transportation 2020/21 work programme.

As with many other schemes during this period, progress was delayed due to the pandemic. Uncertainty about traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels and how this might influence any traffic management proposals, meant progress was delayed. With this in mind, it was agreed to continue to explore and review options for Eastwood Drive as part of the Littleover ward’s traffic priorities for 2021-22.

Following this decision local Councillors together with Council Officers agreed an Action Plan to trial certain measures to reduce vehicle speeds and cut through traffic. This, firstly, included traffic calming with a proposal to install speed cushions on a trial basis (across the country, speed cushions have proven highly successful in controlling vehicle speeds and cut through traffic). However, following a period of consultation with local residents (undertaken in line with the Council’s duty under section 90C of the Highways Act), the proposal was rejected. The intention is therefore to move to the next stage of the ‘Action Plan’ and consult on options to close Eastwood Drive.

CLOSURE

The closure of any road on the public highway requires clear justification as it would mean a removal of a general right of use for all highway users. This means it is essential to consult stakeholders and the public generally over a period of 12 weeks to ensure all interests and concerns are given appropriate time to be heard prior to any decision being made.

Your opinions matter and will help decide what happens next. Please take the time to tell us what you think; the closing date for all comments is Monday 25 April 2022. Should you require the survey in a different format (paper copy) please contact us at LetsTalkDerby@derby.gov.uk or call us on 01332 640000 to request one.

This consultation is open for 12 weeks and will close on Monday 25 April 2022.