Hundreds of Harlestone Firs walkers in Northampton may have to find new parking as busy road set for double yellow lines
Hundreds of walkers visiting Harlestone Firs in Northampton may soon have to find somewhere else to park, as double yellow lines are set to be painted along a busy stretch of road next to the woodland.
The stretch of Northampton’s long-awaited North West Relief Road (NWRR) between Harlestone Firs and York Way could soon be painted with double yellow lines – but West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has declined to say when the road itself will open.
The proposal is to implement double yellow lines in York Way, subject to a Traffic Regulation Order consultation process. A WNC spokesperson previously said: “If these are introduced, enforcement would then be carried out in the same way as other illegal parking on double yellow lines.”
The section is heavily used by hundreds of walkers who park there daily to access Harlestone Firs.
The main car park opposite the woodland entrance has space for only around 50 vehicles, and it is already full most weekends. Many visitors currently resort to parking dangerously on grass verges off the busy Harlestone Road just to get into the woods.
Persimmon Homes, which built the developer-controlled final section of the NWRR between York Way and the railway line, said it would be ready to open by August 15. That milestone has now passed, and while WNC welcomed the completion of the works, the council has since declined to comment further on when the entire £54.5 million road will actually open.
The NWRR, which runs from the Windhover pub in Kingsthorpe to York Way, has been more than 30 years in the making. Planning consent was granted in 2020, and construction began in 2022 after the council borrowed £20 million to cover a funding gap. Critics have described the £54.5 million scheme as not a relief road at all, but rather an access route for a 3,000-home estate on fields between Harlestone Firs and Kings Heath, known as Dallington Grange.
The SLRR eventually opened to traffic on August 12 this year after sitting half-built for 16 years – but not before missing multiple opening deadlines in 2024 and 2025.