Just when you thought that the West of Northampton couldn’t be made to look any worse, along comes the County Council with £5.7 Million of public money to spend on yet another road that serves no real purpose. In this time of recession it really makes you wonder if the Council are being somewhat foolish with our money.
The new road is called Sandy Lane ‘Improvement’ North (SLIN). Originally it was said to be part of a grand venture called the West Northampton Orbital Bypass. However, the usual lack of infrastructure funding that continues to blight Northamptonshire has reduced the great ambitions of the highways planners to a single carriageway road
The new road is called Sandy Lane ‘Improvement’ North (SLIN). Originally it was said to be part of a grand venture called the West Northampton Orbital Bypass. However, the usual lack of infrastructure funding that continues to blight Northamptonshire has reduced the great ambitions of the highways planners to a single carriageway road
that stretches all the way from one small rural road - Harlestone Road - to another even smaller road - Nobottle Road.
For the life of us we can’t understand why on earth the Council are insisting on going ahead with this forlorn and useless construction. What benefits will it bring? Sure it’ll make it easier for HGV’s to get from Harlestone Road to Nobottle Road, but then what? Because our incompetent Planners have bungled the next stage of this road, the Sandy Lane Relief Road (SLRR) - better known as the Road To Nowhere, when the new road is completed the additional traffic will still be piling up at its southern end. How can this be value for money or how can there be any explanation for it that doesn’t defy common sense?
One thing is for sure, our so-called ‘green’ Council will have uprooted acres of trees and much-needed farmland to achieve this monument to bad planning. Wildlife will be evicted. The good people of New Duston will have to put up with construction dust and noise and traffic jams for many months, and all that will happen is that the lorries will be able to go faster for two-thirds of a mile. Will nothing stop these silly excesses?
The contractors, Carillion, have started marking out the site with little flags. They’ve destroyed part of a lovely field by setting up their compound and it looks as though there will be no stopping it. However, we would ask our local politicians - especially those who are hopeful candidates in the forthcoming General Election to take a stand. Stop this contract now! Compensate the contractor and stop yet another big mistake resulting from un-joined up planning and plain incompetence being made in this area. Imagine, if you win a seat in the next Election, will it be YOU that they ask to cut the ribbon to open this new short and useless stretch of road? You may also imagine that the embarrassment could be terminal. Now imagine the politician who stood up against this nonsense and asked the Council to account for its reasons for building this pitiful road, when it has no future prospects of becoming anything more than a little road that leads from one lane to another lane. Be aware that the Government has no plans or funding to make this little road into a bypass - whatever the Planners may wish for. So how many years will it stand as yet another monument to the unfinished wilderness that the West of the town has now become? Stop it now or live with it.
Spare a thought for the close neighbours of this new road. Will it be of benefit to them? No it will not. Spare a thought for the traffic that currently enters Sandy Lane from Port Road. Because of the new flyover, they will now have to add their volume of traffic to the congestion of Harlestone Road as they travel around a block to access the entrance to the new Sandy Lane. Just when you think that things can’t get worse, you realise that this bit of planning madness will actually increase the congestion on Harlestone Road! Unbelievable!
For the life of us we can’t understand why on earth the Council are insisting on going ahead with this forlorn and useless construction. What benefits will it bring? Sure it’ll make it easier for HGV’s to get from Harlestone Road to Nobottle Road, but then what? Because our incompetent Planners have bungled the next stage of this road, the Sandy Lane Relief Road (SLRR) - better known as the Road To Nowhere, when the new road is completed the additional traffic will still be piling up at its southern end. How can this be value for money or how can there be any explanation for it that doesn’t defy common sense?
One thing is for sure, our so-called ‘green’ Council will have uprooted acres of trees and much-needed farmland to achieve this monument to bad planning. Wildlife will be evicted. The good people of New Duston will have to put up with construction dust and noise and traffic jams for many months, and all that will happen is that the lorries will be able to go faster for two-thirds of a mile. Will nothing stop these silly excesses?
The contractors, Carillion, have started marking out the site with little flags. They’ve destroyed part of a lovely field by setting up their compound and it looks as though there will be no stopping it. However, we would ask our local politicians - especially those who are hopeful candidates in the forthcoming General Election to take a stand. Stop this contract now! Compensate the contractor and stop yet another big mistake resulting from un-joined up planning and plain incompetence being made in this area. Imagine, if you win a seat in the next Election, will it be YOU that they ask to cut the ribbon to open this new short and useless stretch of road? You may also imagine that the embarrassment could be terminal. Now imagine the politician who stood up against this nonsense and asked the Council to account for its reasons for building this pitiful road, when it has no future prospects of becoming anything more than a little road that leads from one lane to another lane. Be aware that the Government has no plans or funding to make this little road into a bypass - whatever the Planners may wish for. So how many years will it stand as yet another monument to the unfinished wilderness that the West of the town has now become? Stop it now or live with it.
Spare a thought for the close neighbours of this new road. Will it be of benefit to them? No it will not. Spare a thought for the traffic that currently enters Sandy Lane from Port Road. Because of the new flyover, they will now have to add their volume of traffic to the congestion of Harlestone Road as they travel around a block to access the entrance to the new Sandy Lane. Just when you think that things can’t get worse, you realise that this bit of planning madness will actually increase the congestion on Harlestone Road! Unbelievable!
Another brilliant piece of planning from Northamptonshire County Council........