Late paperwork leads to delay in planning permission for North West Relief Road

Northamptonshire County Council has applied to build the North West Relief Road in Northampton. The 1.9km single carriageway road would be built on land south of the A5199 Northampton Road between the Brampton Health Golf Centre and the River Nene.

It would include two new roundabouts and links bridging over the River Nene to Brampton Lane and over the Northampton loop of the West Coast mainline to connect with the Dallington Grange.

Planning officers had recommended that councillors on the county’s development control committee approve the scheme when it met on Tuesday (August 4).

But the councillors decided to defer a decision after new documents from the county council’s highways department regarding the scheme were published at 9.30pm the evening before, with some councillors only getting them 15 minutes before the 10am meeting started the following day.

A transport assessment for the relief road states that it is ‘necessary to enable and unlock the future development of 6,600 houses and more than 3,000 jobs in Northampton’. It also adds that it will help relieve pressure on the existing road in northern Northampton and nearby villages.

But a number of residents and parish councils have objected to the scheme, which is expected to cost between £28 million to £35 million. They argue that it will clog up areas like Welford Road and Brampton Lane.

They also argue that the council is using an outdated transport assessment model that doesn’t accurately reflect the traffic impact it would have on some of those areas.

Committee member Councillor Graham Lawman called for a decision to be deferred, saying: “It’s apparent that there’s a concern about this assessment and there’s also concerns over the consultation. Combined with the fact of the late papers I would like to propose that this item is not ready for assessment yet with a number of things yet to be resolved.”

His motion was seconded by Councillor Steve Osborne, who added: “It’s totally wrong to introduce papers that we haven’t even read.”

A number of speakers were due to object against the scheme, including Kingsthorpe North ward councillor Sam Rumens – who along with four other councillors had sent an open letter to the committee outlining concerns over the consultation.

It reads: “This road was consulted on in tandem with the Northern Orbital Road (NNOR). That road is highly in doubt and the impacts upon traffic are wildly different with and without the two being finished together.

“On July 7, it was confirmed by WSP representatives that the NWRR is now being taken forward as a standalone project. For this project to have any democratic legitimacy, it must therefore now be re-consulted in full, so that people can give their support or disapproval in this new context.”

And Sean Brady, co-chairman of Whitehills & Spring Park Residents Association (WASPRA) was also due to speak. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We’ve made the point all along the way that is has been a shambles. It’s been subject to so many alterations and now there are papers being submitted that councillors haven’t even had a chance to read. Of course it had to be deferred.

“WASPRA have put forward our own up-to-date traffic assessment using retired traffic experts, and no-one has really said they disagree with it. From the councillors’ point of view they want to see an up to date assessment.

“It should not be for residents to raise these obvious concerns, there should be checks and balances. But at the moment it seems like the applicant is marking their own homework so to speak. Before any next committee meeting an up-to-date traffic assessment needs to be carried out. We’re not saying ‘don’t build a road’ but just make sure that it’s not a disaster in the making.”