One of Britain’s most famous roads is under threat as the local council can’t afford to keep repairing it. Derbyshire County Council has asked the UK government to step in and keep the 200-year-old SNake Pass open.

Built by Thomas Telford from 1818-1821 to link Sheffield and Manchester through the Peak District it was originally a turnpike, or toll road, but the harsh winter weather has meant it’s always been costly to maintain and the money coming in from tolls was never enough. For almost 80 years after the arrival of railways Snake Pass was actually closed, until cyclists and early motorists starting using it again.

Now its fate is precarious once more. Charlotte Cupit, Derbyshire County Council's cabinet member for transport, told the BBC: "Sadly with some of the floods, and some of the big snowfall events, Snake bears the brunt of that quite often because it's one of the highest points in the county.”

"There's one place on Snake, at Alport, where you can see that half the road has gone. We haven't got the resources to be able to carry out the repair, because that's many millions of pounds, and that would take it off the wider highways budget that we currently get," she added.

The council has now asked the Department for Transport for a special landslip fund to ensure the future of Snake Pass and there are warnings that if the funding doesn’t come the road could be abandoned, just like the nearby A625 which was closed in 1979.

Save the Snake!