Work due to start on changes to the A38 through Derby have been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Three major junctions are to be changed to held reduce congestion and pollution as part of the £225m Highways England scheme. A decision is due from Secretary of State, Grant Shapps in March next year.

If the grade separation plans are approved, routes through Kingsway and Markeaton Island would become underpasses while the Little Eaton route would become a flyover.

Highways England still said it hopes to complete the scheme “as early as possible in the 2024-25 financial year”.

Chris Nash, a district council planning officer, said during a meeting last week that he had received a letter from Highways England updating the authority on the A38 improvement scheme.

The letter said: “Due to the pandemic earlier in the year, the inquiry programme was delayed slightly and other matters have also taken precedence which means the Secretary of State’s intended decision on the examination of the development consent order is now not going to be next month, but it will be issued in January. That then means the construction on the grade separation works has slipped also by three months now back to July next year.”