After waiting a year for a dangerous hole on a cycle route in Borrowash to be fixed by the local developers (Taylor Wimpey), a small group of DCG members decided to commemorate the anniversary by holding a birthday party for the hole.
The problem is on a traffic free multi-user route near Rovings Drive in Borrowash and was reported back in February 2019. Derby City Council were very quick to respond by visiting the site, erecting safety barriers, and reporting the problem to the landowners for repair.
The landowners are Taylor Wimpey who built the nearby estate and who, as part of obtaining permission to build, agreed to provide various infrastructure including the multi-user route.
The pothole was quickly dubbed the “Borrowash Basin” by locals.
Over the last year, Taylor Wimpey have been chased many times to make the necessary repairs but no effective action has been taken despite promises that “contractors would be working on the repairs as a matter of urgency”. From being a nice new pothole with smart barriers, the hole has become sorrier and sorrier looking with rubbish collecting in the hole, the barriers falling over, and a resulting general air of neglect.
As there was no sign of the hole being fixed by Taylor Wimpey in the naer future, Derby Cycling Group decided they would hold a clean up and a commemoration to mark the Basin’s first birthday.
Glumly viewing the poor state of the hole 
Starting on the clean up 
After cleaning out a year’s amount of filth from the hole, re-erecting the barriers and reinstalling the sandbags, it was time for the celebration!
Special First Birthday balloons were added to brighten up the barriers.
A birthday cake (with just the single candle – hopefully we won’t need more at a further event in 2021) was part of the commemoration.
The working party enjoying their celebratory cake
After the cake, there was the customary singing of “Happy Birthday Dear Hole” and “For He’s a Jolly Good Hollow”.
Note that Derby Cycling Group members do not claim any musical ability and you are warned before viewing the video. Sorry!
Derby Cycling Group call for a connected cycle network across the Derby area and are pleased when developers create good infrastructure connected to existing cycle routes. However, building the routes isn’t the end of the story and maintenance is necessary for them to be useful. It’s recognised that problems can occur but would expect a large national organisation such as Taylor Wimpey to make repairs in a much shorter timescale than a year.
They have many skilled workmen building 329 homes at Highfields Farm in Littleover and we would have hoped a couple could have been spared to make the short trip to Borrowash to repair the dangerous pothole. Anyone considering one of the new houses in Littleover may wish to consider how rapidly any snags may be fixed.
Overall an excellent job done by the working party, a good celebration held and families once again able to safely negotiate the “Basin”.
Now just got to hope Taylor Wimpey make the necessary repairs before 2021.
Coverage of the event in the Derby Telegraph of 29th February 2020. Similar coverage also appeared in itv.com and a summary report in road.cc.
Feel free to pass on news of this commemoration using the hashtag of #BorrowashBasin.
Developers have not as yet handed over sections of route 66 Heatherton. Route signage at several points bleached out and unreadable. Tried for over a year to get anybody interested. DCC traffic and transportation unresponsive.
Your commitment to the cause is an example for us all. Your creativity in communicating the story is exceptional. Perhaps this will become more difficult to say “no” to vs. just fixing it. I hope this triggers the response needed. Well done!