{"id":249344,"date":"2025-07-09T00:20:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T00:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/249344\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T00:20:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T00:20:28","slug":"snake-pass-closures-need-to-be-tackled-say-regional-mayors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/249344\/","title":{"rendered":"Snake Pass closures need to be tackled say regional mayors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy Ashton<\/p>\n

BBC Sheffield political reporter<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Politicians are trying to find a solution for Snake Pass which is suffering frequent landslips<\/p>\n

Regional mayors are trying to find a solution for the Snake Pass as frequent landslips keep closing the key route between the north’s biggest cities.<\/p>\n

The 12-mile section of the A57, which connects Manchester and Sheffield, is managed by Derbyshire County Council (DCC) but it has warned it cannot afford to keep repairing<\/a> it.<\/p>\n

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the frequent closure of the road was an example of poor transport links in the north.<\/p>\n

Burnham said: “They [DCC)] are not particularly concerned about whether people can get from Manchester to Sheffield – it’s not their main priority.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said politicians were trying to find a solution for Snake Pass<\/p>\n

The Department for Transport said highway maintenance funding was given to DCC and it had to decide how best to spend it – whether on local issues such as potholes or on more major repair works to Snake Pass.<\/p>\n

DCC said it was being forced to make difficult choices with a limited budget and it has called on the government to create a national landslip fund.<\/p>\n

The mayors said the government needed to invest more in transport in the north.<\/p>\n

Speaking on BBC Radio Sheffield, Coppard said: “We need a new plan for connecting South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n

“Andy Burnham and I are going to involve the East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward to figure out a solution.<\/p>\n

“It is a big problem.<\/p>\n

“Sheffield and Manchester are growing really quickly. They are two of the biggest cities in the north and they are connected by that road.”<\/p>\n

\"PAPA<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the government needed to invest more in transport in the north<\/p>\n

Burnham said all the roads connecting Sheffield and Manchester were unsuitable.<\/p>\n

“You have the Woodhead but you can’t rely on that for the main connectivity between two major northern cities,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You can go around the M1 and M62 but that is a pretty big detour.<\/p>\n

“It’s the same old story – there is never enough money to finish things properly in the north.<\/p>\n

“We need better road and rail connectivity between Manchester and Sheffield for certain.”<\/p>\n

Could the Snake Pass close to cars forever?<\/p>\n

Councillor Charlotte Cupit, cabinet member for highways and transport at DCC, said Snake Pass was a priority.<\/p>\n

“There are 30,000 vehicles using it every week and it connects the regions but is also a really important local route.”<\/p>\n

She said the road was critical to economic growth but that funding was limited.<\/p>\n

“We need to maintain what we already have,” she said. “There is simply not enough funding. <\/p>\n

“The council looks after 3,500 miles of road and the Snake Pass alone could take the whole highways budget but we have 200 other landslips.”<\/p>\n

The Department for Transport said the government was committed to securing long-term funding so councils could invest in their highway networks.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: “We understand the disruption and frustration landslides on Snake Pass can cause for drivers and local communities.<\/p>\n

“While DCC is responsible for the road, we have provided \u00a375m to the East Midlands Combined Authority for 2025\/26 to help support them in maintaining their local roads.”<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham: “We need a proper plan for the North”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucy Ashton BBC Sheffield political reporter BBC Politicians are trying to find a solution for Snake Pass which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-249344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114820417588375582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}