Derbyshire County Council have now made a final decision on the East-West Cycle Path, which will see the permanent closure of Crow Lane, a cycle lane created along Chatsworth Road – with the road being narrowed and a reduction in the speed limit to 30mph all the way from Holymoorside

Whether you are for or against the proposals, I think we can all agree that the County Council’s handling of this issue has been shambolic, incompetent and undemocratic.  It is very clear to me that there has been no real attempt to consult people’s views and that the Council had made all the decisions far in advance and paid lip-service to any real attempt to engage with the community, particularly those residents along Chatsworth Road who will be impacted the most by the proposals.

The County Council still claim to have delivered 4,000 consultation letters, but it appears that these were not all delivered. The original consultation was only conducted online for a three-week period at the height of the pandemic and was clearly insufficient and not a genuine attempt to secure the views of local people. I had a meeting with Cllr Athwal in November 2021 to express my concerns about the letters that people had not received and the short timeframe for the consultation. Cllr Athwal dismissed the concerns and said that even if the letters were not delivered, the Council had no duty to send them as part of the consultation. He also stood by the three-week consultation process and made it clear that he did not care about the concerns and objections being raised by people in Chesterfield and that DCC were proceeding whether local people agreed or not.

I have also consistently pressed the County Council to hold public meetings, but they have failed to do so. I attended a public meeting held by the Chesterfield Civic Society at Brookfield School, which was attended by over 200 people, but no representative from the Council was there.

Many residents have been raising further concerns about the consultation process. I believe that the consultation process has been deeply flawed and unfair. I secured a Westminster Hall debate to raise my concerns regarding the Council’s consultation process. I also raised this in a meeting with the then Minister for Cycling, Chris Heaton-Harris MP, who informed me that whilst guidance is provided regarding the consultation process, the final decision is up to local authorities and the Government will not intervene.

I remain of the opinion that the alternative suggestions, such as closing Dark Lane instead of Crow Lane or having a cross-country path instead of using Chatsworth Road, should have been fully considered and should have been part of a fair and robust consultation process.

This is a sad day for local democracy. With any proposed large development or infrastructure project, there will always be some people who remain unhappy with the final decision, but it would leave less of a bitter taste in the mouth if the County Council had made a real attempt to consult local people.