Free shuttle bus to connect Hayfield and New Mills during sinkhole drama

A temporary free shuttle bus between New Mills and Hayfield will come into service on Tuesday, August 27.

It will step in for the final stretch of the 358 Stockport to Hayfield bus, which has been forced to terminate in New Mills since a sinkhole opened up in the town last month. 

Hulleys of Baslow, who run several routes around the Peak District, will provide the service, which will connect with Stagecoach’s 358 in both directions. 

The free bus, whose route will take it via Thornsett, will be evenings-only from Monday to Saturday, beginning at 7:50pm after the final 61 - which runs every 30 minutes during the daytime - until its final trip to Hayfield at 23:50.

The temporary shuttle will also run an hourly service on Sundays, mirroring the timetable of the 358 if it was running its full length. 

Derbyshire County Council (DCC), who are funding the bus, have also given an update on the sinkhole. 

“Following the repairs made by United Utilities to their damaged infrastructure last week, we’ve now taken over responsibility for the site. 

“We’re investigating a collapsed historic culvert, around 5 metres below the surface of Hayfield Road (heading towards Birch Vale) which was revealed when United Utilities were on site. The culvert appears to be a legacy from former mine workings in the area and is at least 150 years old.  

“We need to know the extent of the collapse under the A6015 to work out the best way to repair the culvert to enable us to then reopen the road safely. Without this information, we risk a new and larger sink hole opening.” 

Due to the age of the infrastructure, there are no surviving accurate records for engineers to work with. They also had the surprise of stumbling across an even larger and deeper culvert nearby, which is likely another remnant of the former mining and quarrying operations in the area. 

“We want to make sure this is in a good condition while we have the equipment and team on site, to prevent any further problems in the future,” continued the DCC statement. 

“Thank you for bearing with us to fix the problems caused by the broken culvert. We apologise for delays and inconvenience in the area – rest assured we are doing everything we can to get this situation resolved for people.” 

The full timetable for the shuttle bus is available at derbysbus.info.