Key Weekley and Warkton Bypass Unlikely To Go Ahead - County Council

11.50.30pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 30th Jun 2008

Cllr Jane Hollis

A key bypass for the villages of Weekley and Warkton - which many people deem to be an essential part of plans to build 5,500 homes in East Kettering - is unlikely to receive government funding, Northamptonshire County Council have revealed.

The plans, contained in a reply to a written question tabled by Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Cllr Jane Hollis, comes as the Conservative-run County Council has failed to list the planned road - which is intended as the first stage of an eastern Kettering bypass - as a priority.

The Council's reply also casts doubt on funding for the second stage of the bypass by assuming that developers Alledge Brook would fund this when no funding commitments for the road have in fact been made.

Kettering Liberal Democrat spokesperson Chris Nelson said, "While a housing development of this size is not wanted by the majority of local people, if it is to go ahead then it is painfully obvious that existing roads will simply not be able to cope. Almost everyone agrees that a Kettering eastern bypass is essential to making the development work, yet amazingly it seems that no-one is prepared to foot the bill."

"With the representatives of Alledge Brook having indicated at a recent meeting that making developers fund the road may well result in less money being available to provide facilities for the community, failing to secure government funding for this road could well have serious consequences."

Cllr Jane Hollis added, "In addition to the homes planned for Kettering, development plans in Corby will put even more strain on this area as drivers try to gain access to the A14."

"With this being the result of Labour's decision to dictate that these homes be built round here, our Conservative-run County Council needs to do more to get the government to cough up the money that we need to pay for the infrastructure!"

ENDS

Notes:

1. The full text of the question tabled by Cllr Jane Hollis, and the reply by Cllr Bob Seery, is reproduced below.

2. Alledge Brook is jointly controlled by Boughton Estates and development firm Bee Bee Developments.

3. At a meeting of the East Kettering Liaison Forum held on 22nd May 2008 (a body set up by Kettering Borough Council to consult stakeholders on the future direction of the project) representatives of Alledge Brook indicated that for them to fund the cost of the road may well result in less funds being contributed by developers for community services and infrastructure.

4. Developers can provide community services and infrastructure in a development by either providing buildings directly on site, or by the making a 'section 106 agreement' (under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) whereby a developer gives funds to a local authority to provide services or infrastructure as a condition of a successful planning application.

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6. Question to Councillor Bob Seery, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Roads and Transport from Councillor Jane Hollis: In light of plans to build some 5,500 homes on the eastern edge of Kettering, can the Cabinet Member for Roads and Transport inform the council of the progress being made by Northamptonshire County Council to obtain funding for the Kettering Eastern Avenue bypass, in particular the Weekley and Warkton section, to realise the development's stated objective of being 'a sustainable urban development'?

ANSWER

County Council officers are in regular discussion with Beebee Development and the Borough Council about this issue, and others relating to development in North Northamptonshire.

One of the issues of concern to many local residents has been the need for a road which gives adequate mitigation for the villages east of Kettering, but which does not loop too far out to the east. The solution which is now being proposed at least in the first stage would meet this objective being a northwards extension of the spine road through the middle development.

The County council has submitted a bid to the government's Community Infrastructure Fund for £17.23 million to construct the Weekly and Warkton Bypass section, in the expectation that the development spine road would be funded by developers. An expression of interest was submitted in April, and the government will let us know in July which bids they wish full business cases to be submitted for in October. We would then expect to hear in January which schemes will be funded, with the money to be spent by March 2011.

Our own bids to the Community Infrastructure Fund amount to more than 50% of the £200 million available for growth points nationally and therefore not all bids will be successful. We have had to prioritise schemes and Weekly and Warkton Bypass were not the top priority for our bid in North Northamptonshire. One reason is that the development is still some way from starting, another is that there are risks because the scheme does not yet have planning permission and the money needs to be spent in a defined period {by March 2011}.

We have told the developers that the case for would be much stronger if they had obtained planning permission for the road. That would mean resolving concerns of interested parties, including English heritage.If the bid is successful we will continue to work with the developers to explore other funding opportunities.

END