Petition to stop one-way street plan for major Northampton road reaches 500 signatures in four days

A Northampton resident's petition to halt a £1.4m plan that would redesign a major town centre road into a one-way street has been signed by more than 500 people in four days.

In September, the Chronicle & Echo revealed a county council proposal to convert the entire mile-long stretch of Billing Road into both a one-way system and a segregated cycle path.

The £1.392m scheme - which aims to build a total of 2.5 miles of connected cycle routes starting in Wellingborough Road - was at the centre of a council's bid to Government for emergency travel funding.

But now, a petition to scrap the idea has reached more than 500 signatures in less than a week, citing that the scheme would cause havoc for residents, businesses, schools and the two hospitals that run along Billing Road.

The petition's founder and Billing Road resident Nick Bailey says he launched the Change.org page after carrying out his own traffic survey.

He concluded that after over three hours of observing the road at rush hour and pick-up time for Northampton School for Boys, he counted more than 2,900 vehicles and just 47 bicycles - meaning just two per cent of the traffic was made up of cyclists.

He told the Chron: "I do support cyclists but this plan is using a nuclear sledgehammer to crack a nut.

"It's like my worst 10 nightmares rolled into one... This one-way system will cause massive tailbacks with stationary cars, ambulances, vans and lorries

belching out more CO2 emissions than ever."

Billing Road runs for over a mile between York Road and Rushmere Road and has access to Northampton General Hospital, St Andrew's Hospital and Northampton School for Boys, as well as more than a hundred homes and businesses.

Nick says he fears the plan will only put pressure on Wellingborough Road, while neighbouring residential side streets become "rat runs for frustrated drivers" and "clogged up by parents dropping off children from NSB".

The scheme is part of a wider £2.5bn plan by the county council to improve cycling and walking across Northamptonshire.

He said: "Northamptonshire County Council has already applied for Government funding and yet most of my neighbours know nothing of this nightmare.

"Surely something of this magnitude is worthy of a local referendum with mass publicity and public

meetings."

In a statement, cabinet member for highways Jason Smithers said the plan was not set in stone and will be consulted on if the council is awarded the funding by Government.

He said: "At this stage, it is simply a proposal, and we will be consulting as to its long-term suitability and practicality if we are successful in being awarded funds. We made it clear to the DfT that our schemes would be subject to consultation prior to any implementation.

“We are currently waiting for feedback from the DfT and confirmation as to whether our bid has been successful.”