A major commuter route for a number of Derbyshire towns and villages has been closed for a year in an ‘unacceptable’ planning breach.
For many people in Shipley, Cotmanhay, Ilkeston, Kirk Hallam, Sandiacre, Stapleford and Long Eaton, the Nutbrook Trail and Erewash Canal cycle routes are key commuter lifelines – away from the roads.
However, for a year, a key connection in need of an upgrade has been the very link between the Nutbrook Trail and the Erewash Canal, through the expansive, sprawling heavy industrial estate at Stanton.
The cycle path – National Cycle Route Number 67 – had led through Crompton Road, close to the junction with Merlin Way, threading the needle between three major recycling plants, including Johnsons, Willshee’s and Recycleacar.
This HGV- and dust-ridden connection was closed last June by Verdant, the developers of the neighbouring former Stanton Ironworks, under a 200-acre landmark regeneration project which is due to create 4,000 jobs.
As part of its planning approval by Erewash Borough Council in 2022, the developer had to create a new cycling route within the former ironworks before the development or occupation of any industrial units.
This was to bring about a safe and attractive connection between two idyllic waterside cycle paths and broaden sustainable travel in the region, improving health and wellbeing through a historic industrial hotbed.
Approval brought an end to 15 years of dereliction on Derbyshire’s largest brownfield site.
The developer has now built and occupied a number of units, including major distributor DX, a Starbucks and McDonald’s, and laid all of the tarmac for the new cycle route.
This route leads to the canal and reconnects with Route 67 at Stanton Lock.
However, the new cycle connection, while complete, has also been closed off, bringing a close to both the upgrade and its predecessor, causing significant disruption for both commuters and leisure seekers.
This has left cyclists, and other would-be users, diverted further up the Stanton industrial complex along Crompton Road and Hallam Fields Road, which are frequented by an almost constant throughput of lorries, connecting at Hallam Fields Lock.
A “compromise” from the developers to part-resolve this was rejected by councillors at a borough council meeting this month, with members saying they felt “gaslit” by the developer over what is a planning breach, which they say should be enforced as soon as possible.
Verdant had applied to have a night-time closure of the new cycle route connection between 6 pm and 7 am for three years – enforced through a fence and gates.
The meeting was told that this may have introduced the first UK night-time closure or “curfew” on a national cycling route.
Dom Cox, who uses the cycle route to commute to work, said the current closure and planned curfew were “unacceptable” and that the security concerns of the developer were “utter hypocrisy”.
He said the ironworks site is encircled by temporary fencing only and that this need only be added to the new cycle path.
Mr Cox said the plan was to “lock us out for two more years” and said this was a “cost-cutting measure dressed up as health and safety”.
He said the diversion options put residents “in danger”.
Ian Dent, a member of the Derby cycling group, said the developer had been in breach of the planning condition as soon as it occupied its first unit – without opening the cycle path – since January 2025.
Steve Birkinshaw, the council’s head of planning, said if councillors rejected the application, then the only remaining solution would be enforcement action on the breach.
Mr Dent said people had used the route from as far away as Derby and said the diversion was “unsuitable”.
Helen Swift, a resident, said the “regeneration of the site should be applauded, but it should not be to the detriment of residents”, who ought to have unrestricted access to a national cycle path.
Lois Partridge, agent for the applicants, said the application aimed to provide a “pragmatic solution”.
She said that to open the new connection would be to welcome residents into a live construction site, including diggers, cables and trenches.
Ms Partridge said the new connection was a “permissive path on private land, not a public right of way”, so it did not have to be open to the public.
She said that, for the majority of people, a 6 pm to 7 am closure would not impact their travel.
Councillor Kate Fennelly (Lab), chair of the planning meeting, said the developer had clearly breached the ironworks regeneration approval.
She said the route was supposed to be a safer path to work but instead was directing cyclists onto a heavy industrial estate, and all without any police reports to support claims of security issues for the site.
Councillor Andrew Prince (Con) said: “I feel like the applicant is gaslighting us. If they need to invest in fences, staff or movable CCTV, then that is on them. They can fence in the path for now and report issues to the police, as is already the case for anyone using the Nutbrook Trail.”
Councillor Greg Maskalick (Lab) said: “Solutions should not take away what people have. This further erodes what is there, and the applicant cannot guarantee that somebody is there to unlock the gates every day, 365 days of the year. You could have a logjam of people trying to get to work, and they can’t go anywhere.”
By Eddie Bisknell, Local Democracy Reporter