Public TransportQ: Does Northampton Borough Council support the Rapid Transport Scheme?

A: We have not been asked to support any specific rapid transport scheme, but we do support measures that will provide faster and more reliable bus services

Q: Would a scheme like the one planned in the 1990s serve the town better (with six lines across Northampton)?

A: The scheme proposed then was impractical and undeliverable. Trams and guided bus systems require huge public investment and have a very mixed record of success around the country.

Buses have a flexibility that can get people close to their doorstep that no other form of public transport can match.

We need to work with the bus companies to ensure that they can get in and out of town, through traffic jams quickly and effectively, and that they are frequent and reliable.

Q: Is there a need to link Wellingborough and Northampton, or is the current bus service sufficient?

A: I sometimes use the X4 service to get to Wellingborough railway station, but face a long walk from the town centre. At busy times the current bus service suffers from congestion.

Ensuring bus priority at key junctions will help provide a regular, reliable service. Linking it up to Wellingborough station too would greatly improve Northampton's links with the rest of the country by opening up high quality connections to the Midland mainline, including links to Luton Airport, Eurostar and Thames Link (which links to Gatwick) and East Coast mainline routes.

Q: Does the borough council believe it is more important to draw people into the town centre from Northampton itself, rather than from Wellingborough?

A: Northampton is the capital of our county. We want it to be the destination of choice for people from neighbouring towns and villages.

Research shows that we fail to attract the share of the retail market our town should expect; we need to put that right.

More shoppers will attract more shops, which will in turn attract more shoppers.

Good public transport – especially with fuel prices going through the roof – with Wellingborough and other towns is a key part of rejuvenating our town centre.

Q: What other public transport systems/improvements might encourage people into Northampton?

A: First and foremost, the replacement to our bus station.

We need a pleasant and welcoming place for people to arrive and leave by bus.

We need more than one place, so people don't have to walk far to catch a bus, do not have to walk through dingy and dangerous underpasses, but can wait in a choice of safe, sheltered places close to where they work or shop.

We need to ensure that good bus services are available as new estates are built, so that newcomers can get into the habit of leaving the car at home and we need to encourage buses to run later in the evening.

We need a better rail service.

The good news is that, once the work causing the current disruption of the rail service is complete, Network Rail are planning a twice hourly connection to Birmingham next year and a new hourly connection to the north west, via Crewe. Long-term, we need to encourage Network Rail to re-open the Northampton to Bedford line.

We need to consider pedestrians and cyclists. People should be able to walk and cycle safely into town without having to use dreadful subways and dangerous crossings.

Northampton needs to be a car friendly town, where the alternatives to using the car are excellent.

The private car is sometimes the best travel option but on other occasions walking, cycling or taking a bus, perhaps even a waterbus down the river, should be attractive alternatives.

Q: Town centre development plans include park and ride schemes, but where would they be placed?

A: There are several proposals being considered, including on the Weedon Road near the Princess Marina Hospital site and on the Harlestone Road near Harlestone Firs.

Other sites need to be considered, for example, near the motorway.

We are currently undertaking a parking study to get a fuller picture of the parking needs in the town centre, not just for now, but for years to come.

Q: Is there a need for any park and ride and what actual evidence is there to show that a lot of people come from afar to shop here?

A: It is not just about people coming from afar, and it is not just about shoppers.

Park and ride will free up long-stay spaces currently occupied by people who work in town, providing space for short-term shoppers.

People who live on the outskirts and in villages around the town will also find an efficient park and ride service an attractive alternative to sitting in a traffic jam in the rush hour on congested roads.

Becket's Park
Q: Where would funding come from to develop the park?

A: In a few years, Becket's Park will be at the hub of major new residential and commercial development on the riverside, at Avon Cosmetics and Nunn Mills.

It will become a key link between those new developments, the St John's area and the rest of the town centre. Development around the river will fund improvements to Becket's Park, with the attraction of the waterside opening up major new commercial opportunities.

We will also look for external funding, as we have done with other parks, to fund improvements.

Q: The masterplan produced by Halcrow was due to be published in August, when will it be available?

A: Drafts were displayed at several consultation events over the summer and at the Balloon Festival. The final version will come to cabinet and hence be in the public domain shortly.

Q: How can these ambitious plans be made a reality?

A: By taking them step by step. There is strong support from the Environment Agency for a marina in Becket's Park; this can in turn provide a focus for riverside development that will bring more investment into the park.

Q: People with longer memories will recall Will Alsop's Millennium Bridge scheme in 1995. Why is this project any more likely to come to fruition?

A: These are practical and deliverable proposals.

Unlike the millennium plans, they will not just be dependent on the lottery of Lottery funding, but they will be based on sound business cases, not just to create new facilities but to be able to run them.