National Highways spent more than £6 million of taxpayer money buying 15 large detached homes in Queensway, Derby, to make way for a £600 million widening of the A38, but the scheme now looks set to be scrapped after the houses stood empty for a decade.
The four, five and six bedroom properties sit on a tree-lined street with large driveways, garages and mature gardens. For ten years they have been boarded up behind metal fences, their gardens overgrown, after National Highways forced the families living there to sell up. Hundreds of thousands of pounds more has been spent on security to keep out vandals, squatters and so-called urban explorers, who have nicknamed the road "ghost street."
The A38 scheme would have widened roads and built flyovers and underpasses at three roundabouts to ease congestion on one of Derby's busiest routes. Plans were first proposed 25 years ago. Earlier this month the Government confirmed the project is likely to be cancelled to help pay for increased defence spending, meaning the homes need never have been sold.
Families forced out describe their losses
John Jerram, 88, and his wife Dorothy, 85, were forced to sell their home of 18 years in 2020. Jerram said it breaks his heart every time he goes past, recalling a beautiful garden and a greenhouse. He said the home was sold at a much reduced price and that they received a tiny bit of compensation, enough to pay for a holiday.
Kerry Toolan, 51, who runs her own cleaning firm, lived in Queensway for five years with her electrician husband Peter and their children. She said National Highways paid their moving costs, solicitors' fees and even stamp duty on their next home, but that millions more were spent on preparation work while they still lived there. Toolan said she and her husband loved the house and had many happy years there, and that most other residents on the street were absolutely devastated. She called the whole episode a ridiculous waste of time and money, adding that with a housing crisis, the empty houses were sitting there unused when the money could have been spent elsewhere.
Gail Roberts, 67, was the last person to leave the street after years battling National Highways over the forced sale of her home. Roberts, who has multiple sclerosis, only reached an agreement with National Highways in 2023 after viewing 92 homes. She called the project a criminal waste of taxpayers' money, saying she was appalled but not surprised, and that people still drive past and remark on how lovely the houses are. Roberts said she expects the houses to rot away before a builder eventually demolishes them, calling the situation totally distressing.
Decades of delay and legal challenges
The scheme would have upgraded three main roundabouts, built flyovers and underpasses, and increased lane numbers. Environmental campaigners argued it would destroy nearly 12 hectares of woodland and increase carbon emissions and air pollution. They successfully challenged the plans in court in 2021, before a revised scheme won approval in March, with work due to start in 2028.
The project was earmarked for cancellation earlier this month after the Department for Transport was told to find savings of up to £700 million from its roads funding for the Defence Improvement Plan. The Government said it will consult on reductions to the third Road Investment Strategy, including potentially cancelling the A38 Derby Junctions and A46 Newark Bypass schemes, neither of which has entered contract.
Political reaction to the cuts
East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward called scrapping the A38 and A46 schemes completely unacceptable and said she was not consulted before the cutbacks were announced. Ward said she understood the trade-offs of increasing defence investment, but could not understand why the East Midlands was the only region being asked to lose £900 million of road investment, calling it inequitable given decades of underinvestment. She said the region would play its part in delivering a safer world but warned that defence sector staff need good roads to get to work and access supply chains.
Nadine Peatfield, Leader of Derby City Council, said the A38 has always been a national government project, as is the decision to hold further consultation. Peatfield said the project remains divisive in Derby and that it is time for the public to have another say, 25 years after the original consultation and amid significant changes since then. She said the Government must balance the nation's defence needs with the needs of the city that provides that defence.
The Stop The A38 Expansion group welcomed the plan to cancel the scheme. Clare Wood, from the campaign group, said it was right that the wasteful, outdated road scheme is halted, arguing it would only harm local residents' health and the environment with no justifiable benefits. Transport Action Network, a group seeking more sustainable transport in communities, said it was delighted plans exist to scrap the A38 and A46 projects, calling them damaging.
The Department for Transport declined to comment on what would happen to the houses, saying consultations would be carried out before any final decision is taken on the road scheme.
