Long-awaited plans for a potential bypass around a congestion-hit Derbyshire town have been put on hold indefinitely due to funding issues. In a Derbyshire County Council meeting this week, councillors were informed that the previous Conservative administration “paused” work on the potential Ashbourne bypass after years of planning.

News of this pause from the previous administration comes more than four months after the Conservatives were replaced by Reform as the controlling group following the May elections. The announcement came as Cllr David Harvey, Reform councillor for the Hardwick division, called for investment into a Glapwell bypass, near Shirebrook.

The Ashbourne bypass, last priced at £21 million , was a core priority of the former Conservative administration and parti

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