Council uses compulsory purchase powers to carry on A43 dualling after land negotiations stall

Northamptonshire County Council has already spent around £5 million improving the Round Spinney roundabout as part of its bid to increase capacity on the main road between Northampton and Kettering.

But phase “1b” of the scheme - a new mile-long dual carriageway linking Round Spinney with a slightly relocated Moulton roundabout - has hit a snag, papers to yesterday’s cabinet meeting show. The phase would also see a re-aligned road between Moulton and Overstone built.

A report reads that agreements have been reached wit most landowners along the route.

However, it states: “Negotiations with two landowners have not progressed, and it has been necessary to commence work in a Compulsory Purchase Order to acquire the necessary land.”

Should the order be contested, the need for a public inquiry would delay a construction start to at least May 2017.

It is not known why negotiations have fallen through, and the council says it cannot reveal who the landowners are for commercial reasons.

The cabinet report also gives an update of phases two and three of the scheme, which would eventually see the road dualled all the way north to the A14 junction.

The route of phase three from the Holcott/Sywell roundabout to the A14, would be subject to a consultation, the report states, “because of the need to acquire third-party land.”

Phase three would cost about £65 million, but funding still needs to be found.