Weston on Trent/Aston Road Closure

Weston Parish Council has considered the temporary road closure on Weston Road in Weston-on-Trent between 28th April 2025 to 19th June 2025. While we appreciate that Cadent need to do this work, we think that a closure of this duration is unacceptable and that insufficient time has been allowed to properly plan this. We request that the road closure should be cancelled until the impact can be properly mitigated and all residents properly informed of alternative arrangements. Our detailed concern are set out below.

· This road closure from 28th April 2025 to 19th June 2025 will have a major impact on travel to and from Weston & Aston and between the villages. The Parish Council has had no notice from our elected representative, there has been no consultation and less that one month's warning has been given. For a closure like this, it is reasonable to have expected written notice to be provided to EVERY affected resident and business at least 4 months in advance (a reasonable formula to work on is prior notice of double the length of closure).

· As well as separating Weston & Aston, the road closure would separate Weston Village from the parts of Aston Village which are in Weston Parish, mainly Weston Road, Yates Avenue, the Willow Park Way estate and Richmond Homes.

· The scheme should be titled "Weston Road, Weston-on-Trent" to clarify that the closure separates two parts of Weston Parish.

· The work should be pushed back at least until the summer months so that school transport is not impacted.

· We understand that the gas main is in the centre of the road so a complete road closure is needed to complete the work. We suggest that a new gas main be installed to one side of the road, or in an adjacent field, to allow for one lane operation using traffic lights. The new gas main can then be connected at either end with a road closure of a few days at most. In any event, the new main should be placed to one side of the road to eliminate the need for future road closures.

· The proposed diversion route (Weston Road, Derby Road, B5010 London Road, Thulston Island, Shardlow Road, Snelsmoor Island, Snelsmoor Lane, High Street, A514: Swarkestone Road; Derby Road, Swarkestone Road, Main Street, Weston Road and vice versa) is not viable. It is long and subject to long delays at Derby Road, Swarkestone Road and High Street in Chellaston at peak travel times. An alternative diversion using Chellaston Lane could be used if several large pot holes were filled to make the road safer for increased traffic.

· Arrangement would need to be made for the residents of Weston Road who live on the section of road to be closed.

· The 70 and 70A Diamond Bus service links Weston & Aston to Derby, this is a vital link for many residents to get into Derby to work, shopping and education, breaking this link will not work with the bus company and will effectively lead to isolation of the villages from the wider community which is totally unacceptable. An alternative bus service would need to

provide an equivalent service for Weston Residents at either end of the road closure. This provision would need to be in place and clearly communicated long before the road could be closed.

· Children from Weston Parish travel to Chellaston School using the school bus. Again an alternative service would need to provide an equivalent service for school children at either end of the road closure. This provision would need to be in place and communicated via the school and directly to residents before the road could be closed. The road closure coincides with the exam period which is a sensitive time for pupils and delays cause by different routes along busier roads would inevitably lead to extra stresses for those preparing and sitting exams.

· Children from outside of the village travel to Weston School. The school would need to be informed with sufficient time to allow them to notify the parents and carers etc to allow for alternative arrangements to be made.

· The junction of Swarkestone Road and the A514 at cuttle Bridge has limited visibility and is busy at peak travel times, causing queues of traffic on Swarkestone road. The road closure would make this much worse, so temporary traffic light need to be provided while the work is in progress.

· The junction near the post office in Aston-on-Trent is also congested at peak travel times. Again, the road closure will exacerbate this, so some form of alleviation needs to be provided.

· Emergency services would need to have a plan to cope with the road closure.

· Local businesses ranging from milk delivery to Richmond Villages would be impacted by the closure. They would need time to plan and may need to be compensated for business interruption.

· Residents of part of Weston Parish, such as the Weston Road, the Willow Park Way estate, Yates Avenue and Richmond Homes vote at Weston Village Hall. Their ability to reach the polling station on the May 1st Election Day will be severely restricted.

· Residents of Weston on Trent who use the bus service to access the doctors in Aston on Trent will no longer be able to get to these locations due to the road closure, no alternative provision has been allowed for this. This also affects access to the Village Shop and Post Office services in Aston on Trent. Lack of access to these services will severely affect the businesses in question and they may need to be compensated for resultant financial losses.

· High sided vehicles that need to access Weston on Trent for the purpose of house moves, deliveries etc. will not be able to come into the village due to the height restriction of the railway bridge on Swarkestone Road, this will effectively cut Weston on Trent off from this sort of vehicle.

· The road from Weston to Aston is regularly used by farm vehicles servicing local fields and cutting this off will not be acceptable to them as many of these vehicles are not suitable to use the A50.

· The route through the two villages is a major cycling route with large numbers and groups of cyclists using this route regularly, mainly at weekends and this closure will affect this route, which is the only viable safe east-west cycling route south of Derby.

· Postal deliveries all come into Weston via Aston and this route will be disrupted as will the standard route for the South Derbyshire waste collection services, alternatives will need to be in place for these well in advance of any closure.

· If it is unavoidable that this work must be carried out, then it is expected that Cadent will institute 24 hour a day, seven days a week operation on these works to ensure the proposed two months closure is minimised to a just few weeks.

· Also, if this work is unavoidable, we expected that Cadent will resurface the entire road (which is already in poor condition) rather than patching it, which will inevitab