News

A week after hauliers were asked to re-route their trucks to avoid passing through Towcester, Northants, it has emerged that what locals thought would be a bypass for the town will actually be a local link road.

The town, which is bisected by the A5, has struggled to meet its air-quality targets. Residents hope a bypass will solve the problem in the long term, but as a short-term solution South Northants Council (SNC) has asked LGVs to use the M1 instead of the A5.

Locals had hoped  that a road proposed by Persimmon Homes as part of a housing development would be the solution.

However East Midlands Highways Agency says this was only ever meant to be a local link road not a trunk road.

Julie Ewers, SNC environmental health officer, confirms that the council is still hoping for a bypass, but that the plans proposed by Persimmon Homes, which is building 3,000 houses near Towcester, have already been rejected by the Highways Agency.

"The HA has said the road planned by Persimmon is not up to scratch to be called a trunk road and therefore all the traffic would still have to come through Towcester," she reports.

Ewers adds that there are political implications because there is a West Northamptonshire Development Corporation plan for regional growth in the south Midlands. This includes building more than 100,000 homes - but does not make any allowances for improvements to the infrastructure.

Ewers says: "We think that if these  homes are going to be built, proper traffic management should be included in the plans.

"We had been told we would get a bypass linking the A5 to the A43 south of Towcester, but it looks like all [Persimmon] is doing is developing its access road - and if the HA won't make it a trunk road, then all the traffic will still go through the town."

A spokeswoman for HA says the road linking the A5 to the A43 will be built to serve the new development at Towcester Vale: "The HA will not consider classifying it as a trunk road because it will have too many roads turning off it. It will not be a Towcester bypass."

Persimmon Homes was not available to comment.