Albert Einstein was a smart bloke. I wonder what he’d have made of this?

Derbyshire County Council have finally published their third (fourth?) set of plans for Chapel en le Frith Byway 144, commonly known to us as Rushup Edge. You know the back story, but a quick summary is that four years ago they started the process of covering it all in aggregate, people protested and we entered a crazy, slow moving game of ping-pong of slightly improved consultation.

It never needed any work doing.

From the scant information on previous consultations we’ve been able to find, we can’t see a request for the work. The ‘access for all’ argument is also a fallacy. All relevant groups have opposed the plans wholly or in part.

You are invited to comment on the new plans by DCC.

Working closely with Peak District MTB and in consultation with Ride Sheffield, you’ll be unsurprised that our feelings are consistent about the new works suggested. Though these are the best of the plans proposed so far, they remain an over-engineered and unrequested expense.

DCC have been told this literally thousands of times over but still persist.

My response is below. Note that the power of the response comes in our numbers; 2200 of you on KoftheP! Let me know if you agree with what I say here – or not – I’ll be submitting my response close to the deadline. Most likely 8/9 July.

Also, please submit your own and add to the chorus demanding that DCC actually listen to the result of a consultation for once.

Dear Derbyshire County Council

I write in response to the request for comments on the plans for Chapel en le Frith Byway 144. Keeper of the Peak is dedicated to mountain bike advocacy and supported by over 2200 followers. This number has grown considerably since the previous consultation.

While these plans are an improvement over earlier iterations; with the exception of the work suggested to section one to alleviate flooding and pooling on the path, the majority of these works are a hugely over engineered, unrequested and unnecessary expense.

Key points:

• The route should be returned to its pre-aborted work state before any work commences i.e. removed all the material that has been placed thus far
• Your proposed approach in sections 2 and 3 of type 1 aggregate and stone slabs on concrete will result in the type one washing away and a stone plinth sitting proud down the centre of the track. This absolutely does not mean that slab work for the whole track is preferable. The pre-‘repaired’ material placed on the path should be removed as the original surface was sufficient
• Washed off aggregate used will fill the proposed drainage pool.
• Concrete has NO PLACE in this environment.
• Stone should be hand pitched, and there are only two or three locations that this is necessary – primarily at the steepest of bedrock step sections.
• All that is required is a small amount of hand-placed stone pitching on the deepest of natural bedrock steps.
• Derbyshire County Council is wasting thousands and thousands of pounds on this unnecessary and unrequested work.

Bedrock present is a perfectly suited surface for drainage and has been for years. As I stated in my previous response (https://kofthep.com/2016/11/15/rushup-consultation-kofthep-response/), the approach taken by the Derbyshire County Council Rights of Way team throughout this ‘consultation’ has been baffling, bloody minded and seemingly, wilfully dismissive of measured, educated and balanced responses. Remember, we are not simply a bunch of people on bikes. We are experts in a range of fields who know not only the best approaches to this kind of work in a geological and construction sense, but also the various legal and bureaucratic steps required to enact a plan of this kind. Or indeed to stop it. Help from this knowledge base has been offered and ignored by DCC already.

Do not wait four years again to act based on this consultation.

Regards

KoftheP

Let me know what you think of that. KoftheP is you lot. You are KoftheP. If this doesn’t represent your feelings, let me know.

And yeah, Einstein didn’t say that thing about insanity. But let’s not let DCC know we don’t take the first thing we’re told as read, eh?

KoftheP