"This just seems ridiculous": developer responds to Derbyshire residents' frustration over lorry queues - as 14 trucks queued around a blind bend

Over the past few days, residents in Ashgate have had to navigate around long lines of trucks around the Forest Edge housing development on Linacre Road.

Speaking on Tuesday, June 25, retiree Ian Palmer, who lives on the adjoining Fairfield Drive, said: “This morning there have been about 14 trucks queued all the way around a blind bend, at least ten of them were there for two hours. It’s causing all kinds of congestion.

“They’re building 300 houses on the site, but they don’t have any place to park trucks while they’re waiting, and there’s no space to pass for any traffic coming in the opposite direction, so other traffic has to reverse out.”

He added: “We’ve just come back from holiday, but our neighbours says this has been happening for a few days.”

Work commenced on the development in December, but Ian says traffic to the site has ramped up significantly without any effort to manage it.

He said: “There’s been a lot of big machinery coming and going, and noise, but you expect that from a building site.

“They had temporary traffic lights set up while they were putting the new roads in, it was quite well organised, but this just seems ridiculous.”

When the Derbyshire Times raised residents’ concerns with developer Tilia Homes, the company said it did not foresee an ongoing problem.

A spokesperson said: “A higher than anticipated volume of traffic was temporarily present at Forest Edge this week while road surfacing works were completed.

“We very much appreciate the frustration this has caused and can assure residents that this is an isolated instance and measures have been taken to ensure this will not be an issue moving forward.

“By working hard this week to complete the works, we anticipate it will ultimately reduce site traffic and congestion for the local community by offering multiple entrances onto site.

“We pride ourselves on being considerate housebuilders and will ensure better communication of the schedule of works is shared with the local community moving forward.”

Support your Derbyshire Times by becoming a digital subscriber. You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience. Click here to subscribe.