New traffic island on busy Chesterfield route criticised – as council says “road safety is our priority”

Martin Hague, a Brimington resident, has criticised the creation of a new traffic island on Chesterfield Road - level with Cemetery Terrace.

He said the new traffic island would create issues with parking - which is already limited for residents on Cemetery Terrace.

“The issue with that is, people on Cemetery Terrace have nowhere to park their cars - they’ve got limited space. There’s 11 houses and about enough room for eight cars.

“Where they’re putting the island, it’ll reduce the amount of potential parking, as they’ll put down double yellow lines like they have done for the other ones along Chesterfield Road.”

Martin added that he felt the new traffic island would also create more danger for residents on Cemetery Terrace as they attempt to reverse down onto the road.

He said: “The road is too dangerous to reverse out of, so people have to pull up at the top of Cemetery Terrace and reverse down when it’s safe.

“When people go over the brow of the hill, if someone wants to reverse down Cemetery Terrace, there’ll be cars coming out of a 40mph zone and into a 30mph zone, which generally they don’t slow down enough for.

“What they tend to do now is go out into the middle of the road to avoid the cars trying to reverse - that won’t happen because of the traffic island. It’s a hazard and there’s additional danger.”

Martin also raised concerns about the lack of consultation around the plans for the new traffic island - saying that residents were not contacted beforehand.

“The biggest problem is trying to contact the local councillors over the last week or so, once we found out what was happening.

“None of the residents knew it was going to happen. My mother lives on that road, and she’s 79 - she’s not very good on her feet and her main route for going out is in her car. This takes away her independence.

“If they put down double yellow lines, people will park on the grass verges up and down Chesterfield Road, which are already in a mess anyway, because the council don’t maintain them. Because it’s a bad corner, people coming in and out of the drives can’t see anyway, but this will cause even more of a problem for other residents on Chesterfield Road, not just Cemetery Terrace, and make it more of a risk for all of us.

“Somebody at DCC has made a decision that affects all of the residents in this area. This is the final straw for people that live around this area. Not everybody is lucky enough to have a drive.”

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “This is a developer-led project and a public consultation was carried out as part of the planning application where residents had the opportunity to review the proposed changes and give feedback.

“The decision to build a traffic island at this location was made after careful consideration of the findings of a road safety audit, which highlighted the need for greater visibility around the entrance to the development.

“Previously, parked vehicles often obstructed sightlines for motorists leaving Cemetery Terrace which created a safety risk. The new design aims to improve safety by eliminating these blind spots and ensuring motorists can enter and exit the road more safely to comply with planning conditions and road safety recommendations.

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“We acknowledge residents’ concerns about parking spaces but road safety is our priority and the changes are designed to improve safety for all users. Meanwhile, if anyone missed the opportunity to have their say in the public consultation carried out before work started we would be happy to talk to them.”