Planned Work on the A6 Roundabout at the Junction with Fallow Road on the Woodland Valley Development

The following was sent to the RNWP by Marcus Grant at Persimmon Homes to explain the work to finalise the roundabout on the A6 to enable through traffic from the B576.

This is an update on the A6 roundabout, and importantly an update on the traffic management required to complete.

 

1.      Jan 11^th – Temporary two way nights on the southern side of the new roundabout – 5 days to complete the tie in and road cambers. (Manual control during busy periods). These works are to connect the new road to the old road at the southern end, so that the traffic can get up to the new roundabout. 

 

2.      Jan 16^th 00:00am to 06:00am (overnight road closure)  – A6 closure to adjust safety barriers to higher elevation (new road alignment), white lining so the traffic flow can be diverted to the new road.

 

3.      Jan 16^th – Traffic management and two way lights set up for approx. 8 weeks. Programmed works are for 6 weeks so we are aiming for an earlier completion. (Manual control during busy periods). The plan for this is attached, to the south of the roundabout it will be two way traffic, with the north of the roundabout where the temporary signals are. You may have seen tarmacking works happening to allow for this, this week.

 

4.      Early March, road fully open under existing temp 30mph limit and localised traffic management works to completion. At this point we will open up the roundabout for our construction traffic, so no more lorries etc through the towns heading to our development.

 

I fully appreciate that before we started these works, I said we’d be able to keep the A6 open and running 2 way traffic throughout with exceptions only every now and again. This was always the original plan, however due to the height of the new roundabout from the current A6 and the banking, it’s unfortunately just turned out to not be possible despite best laid plans.

 

I understand that this will inevitable put traffic through your towns. I have stressed to our contractor how important it is that the temporary signals are operated efficiently. Our ANPR system will remain in use to ensure that our construction traffic continues to use the A6. I’ve chased our ANPR company today for recent reports and told them that we need the reports weekly to be effective, I will again reinforce this with them so that we can tackle any issues early on with offenders which will become even more important with this traffic management.

 

Thanks 

 

Marcus Grant

Technical Manager | Midlands Division 

 

Persimmon Homes - Charles Church  

Rothwell North Development link road connection to A6

 Persimmon have informed us that the work on the link road between the B579 and A6 is progressing well and that the roundabout connection on the A6 is scheduled for completion by early summer 2022. They will be sending us some photos of progress which we will post on here.

A14 Road Closures

  The Highways Agency have informed us of the following closures of the A14 around Rothwell and Kettering.

Our ref:

605218 Highways England Stirling House (Area 7),

Lakeside Court,

Osier Drive,

Sherwood Business Park, Nottingham, NG15 0DS www.highwaysengland.co.uk

24 May 2021

 Dear Sir/Madam,

A14 junctions 3, 4, 7 and 8: essential maintenance and refurbishment works

At Highways England, we believe in a connected country and our network makes these connections happen. We strive to improve our major roads and motorways in the East Midlands, to keep people moving today and moving better tomorrow.

I am writing to inform you of a new scheme of works that we will be carrying out from 1 June 2021.

We will be carrying out essential carriageway maintenance and refurbishment work along the A14 between junctions 3, 4, 7 and 8 (Rothwell and Kettering).

What work will you be carrying out?

At junctions 3, 7 and 8, we’ll resurface the carriageway and the exit and entry slip roads, refresh road markings, renew road studs, replace damaged ironworks, clean gullies and replace some traffic signs. These works will take place on the following dates:

1-7 June Junction 8 westbound entry A14 no full closure

8-16 June Junction 7 westbound entry A14 full closure between 10-15 June

We do not have confirmed dates yet for junctions 3 & 7 westbound and junctions 7 & 4 eastbound. When these dates are confirmed we will re-contact you.

During this timetable of works we will be incorporating part of another scheme to upgrade and improve the existing emergency diversion routes along the A14, in this case, specifically at junction 7. We will both install new trigger signs, and, replace those that are worn. We will also attach new sign plates to existing signs and update signs using adhesive patches. Combining these works will save both time and money and prevent a series of road closures in a short time period thereby reducing the inconvenience to road users.

To minimise disruption to the community and road users, we’ll work overnight while the road is less busy.

Once the works are completed, all road users will benefit from improved road safety and a smoother carriageway.

When will the work take place?

Work is due to start on Tuesday 1 June 2021 and is scheduled for completion by mid-

August 2021. We will work Monday to Friday from 8pm to 6am.

To maintain a safe environment for our workforce and customers, we’ll need to close the A14 sliproads overnight from 8pm to 6am Monday to Friday. We will also need to close the main A14 carriageway for several of the junctions as detailed above.

During the closures we’ll put in place a diversion route which we’ve agreed with the Local Authority. The carriageways will remain open outside of our working hours.

Please note that all our planned roadworks may be subject to change due to weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances.

Maintaining safety during Covid-19

This scheme is essential to the strategic road network. All our sites have strict safeguarding measures, in line with Public Health England guidance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and none of our sites are open to the public. All projects are closely monitored, and the situation is kept under constant review.

Contact us

To receive a fortnightly e-mail (or as often as the work necessitates), detailing the progress of the scheme and any amendments to the schedule, or, if you have any queries about this work on behalf of your community, please contact the Public Liaison Officer, Karen Reeve, as follows:

• Email: EMADcomms@kier.co.uk

Alternatively, you can also keep up to date directly by contacting our Highways England

Customer Contact Centre as follows:

• Email: info@highwaysengland.co.uk

• Telephone: 0300 123 5000

• Twitter: @HighwaysEMIDS

Yours faithfully,

Dean Holloway Project Manager

   

New Road Closure Dates

 Northamptonshire Highways have kindly confirmed our road space request to close the Desborough Road for two weekend closures below – 15/16th May and 22/23rd May. The carriageways surfacing/resurfacing will be carried out in the first weekend.

B457 Road Closure Notice

 

B576 Road Closures

 

Three-way Traffic Lights & temporary Crossing:

To remain in place from now until 10/4/21

 

Weekend closures (24 hrs day & night):

Sat 10/4/21 06:00 to Mon 12/4/21 05:00

Sat 17/4/21 06:00 to Mon 19/4/21 05:00

Sat 24/4/21 06:00 to Mon 26/4/21 05:00

 

Mid week three way traffic lights & Temporary Pedestrian Crossing:

Mon 12/4/21 05:00 to Sat 17/4/21 06:00 (24 hr)

 

Mon 19/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Tues 20/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Wed 21/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Thurs 22/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Fri 23/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

 

Mon 26/4/21 05:00 to Fri 7/5/21 17:00 (24 hr)

 

Weekday night closures (19/4/21 to 23/4/21):

Mon 19/4/21 19:00 to Tues 20/4/21 06:00

Tues 20/4/21 19:00 to Wed 21/4/21 06:00

Wed 21/4/21 19:00 to Thurs 22/4/21 06:00

Thurs 22/4/21 19:00 to Fri 23/4/21 06:00

Fri 23/4/21 19:00 to Sat 24/4/21 06:00

 

Email – rothnwp@gmail.com

Twitter - @rothwellnwp

Facebook – Rothwell North Working Party - RNWP

RNWP work on Road Closures featured in Evening Telegraph

 Our work with Persimmon and Northants County Council on getting the arrangements for the B576 closure improved was recently featured in the Northants Evening Telegraph. Thank you to Jim Hakewill, Desborough Town Council and members of the RNWP for their efforts for taking this matter up. Thank you too to Persimmon Homes for listening to our concerns and proposing improved arrangements. The link to the article on the Evening Telegraph website is here:

https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/crime/delight-as-road-closure-between-desborough-and-rothwell-is-reorganised-3177243

Changes to Road Closure Plans

Rothwell North Working Party

Press release - immediate

Road closure planned for 5^th to 18^th April 2021 has been reorganised so that full road closures are overnight and at the weekend outside the Easter holidays.

The closure was advertised on the 25^th of February and raised a significant number of objections from Rothwell and Desborough communities, including an emergency Desborough Town Council Meeting on the 8^th of March. The closure would have caused significant problems for students, staff, and parents getting to and from Montsaye particularly those travelling by bus.  There were also potential problems with getting to the Rothwell Medical Centre, also for service busses running between the two towns and daytime use of Fox Street and Harrington Road as a diversion route.

Rothwell North Working Party (RNWP) have been working with developer Persimmon Homes since early 2017.  This has been to ensure that disruption to the two towns is minimised during construction works and, in particular, a link road is built as soon as possible to the A6 bypass.  

Chairman of RNWP Pete Chapman commented “I am delighted that the Working Party and its highly active members have been able to achieve this result on behalf of the community.  I am full of praise for Persimmon Homes, the County Council and Paul John Construction all of whom wanted to minimise the impact of the planned work on the two communities.  They could not have been more helpful and caring about addressing the issues. I would also like to thank County Councillor Jim Hakewill for alerting us to the problems and working to bring everyone together to find a solution”.

Chairman of Desborough Town Council Cllr Linda Burnham commented “As soon as the details of the road closure were published my phone started ringing and emails flowed in expressing concern about getting between the two towns during the proposed closure.  I immediately called an extraordinary Town Council meeting which was well attended and covered all the concerns.  We wrote to all concerned and I am delighted that the revised plan has been drawn up.  I appreciate the way in which RNWP, Persimmon, PaulJohn Construction and the County Council have responded to community concerns while ensuring the safety of their staff.

There will be a number of night-time and weekend closures along with traffic lights remaining in place which will cause some disruption but much less than the original proposals. The footpath between the two towns will be open throughout.

Rothwell North Working Party is an entirely voluntary group of residents from Rothwell and Desborough who are working with any organisation that shares its objectives in relation to the building of new homes at Rothwell North (now named Woodland Valley)

For further information please contact rothnwp@gmail.com

Enc: 

Rothwell North Working Party - Objectives

Details of proposed road closures operation of temporary lights.

The following details are expected to be officially confirmed in the next few days:

Three-way Traffic Lights & temporary Crossing:

To remain in place from now until 10/4/21

 

Weekend closures (24 hrs day & night):

Sat 10/4/21 06:00 to Mon 12/4/21 05:00

Sat 17/4/21 06:00 to Mon 19/4/21 05:00

Sat 24/4/21 06:00 to Mon 26/4/21 05:00

 

Mid week three way traffic lights & Temporary Pedestrian Crossing:

Mon 12/4/21 05:00 to Sat 17/4/21 06:00 (24 hr)

 

Mon 19/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Tues 20/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Wed 21/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Thurs 22/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Fri 23/4/21 05:00 to 19:00 (days)

Mon 26/4/21 05:00 to Fri 7/5/21 17:00 (24 hr)

 

Weekday night closures (19/4/21 to 23/4/21):

Mon 19/4/21 19:00 to Tues 20/4/21 06:00

Tues 20/4/21 19:00 to Wed 21/4/21 06:00

Wed 21/4/21 19:00 to Thurs 22/4/21 06:00

Thurs 22/4/21 19:00 to Fri 23/4/21 06:00

Fri 23/4/21 19:00 to Sat 24/4/21 06:00

Letter to Rothwell Town Council from Rothwell North Working Party 11/3/2021

 

Letter to Persimmon regarding proposed closure of B576

Dear Marcus,

 

Northamptonshire Highways has notified us of proposed work to be carried out on your behalf by Paul John Construction between the 5^th and 18^th April. This work is forecast to close the B576, Desborough Road, Rothwell completely for a two week period and is causing huge concern to residents of Desborough and Rothwell for the following reasons.

 

Congestion

 

There are currently about 6,000 vehicles per day using this section of road and this is likely to increase further as Covid restrictions are relaxed. There were nearly 12,000 vehicles per day using it before the Covid crisis. The diversionary route will not be able to cope with such an increase.

 

Gold St & Braybrooke Rd, Desborough

 

Gold Street and Braybrooke Road form the northern part of the diversionary route. They are narrow urban roads that always have a large number of parked vehicles along their length. Traversing it on a normal day is difficult since you are always having to stop and start to give way to opposing vehicles. A large number of extra vehicles is likely to cause traffic to come to a complete gridlock during busy periods.

 

The junction of Gold Street with Harborough Road is already a difficult one to traverse. The view is restricted and traffic travelling along Harborough Road causes delays to vehicles trying to emerge from Gold Street. Extra traffic is just going to form long queues backing up and blocking junctions further back.

 

Fox St & Harrington Rd, Rothwell

 

These form the southern part of the diversionary route and a similar situation exists here. The roads are narrow and contain even more parked vehicles. Traversing them on a normal day is difficult and gridlock is likely to occur with traffic waiting to overtake parked vehicles.

 

There are always delays with vehicles trying to emerge from Fox Street onto Kettering Road. Once again, extra traffic is just going to form long queues and gridlock.

 

Montsaye School

 

Children will be back at school by this time and the diversion will cause huge problems at school opening and closing times, particularly for those parents and students travelling from Desborough who will have to use the much longer and heavily congested diversionary route. Has consideration been given to the school bus timetable where several of the buses carry out two or three quick return trips to Desborough during each morning and afternoon periods? How will the buses pick up children from the collection points in Rothwell Road, Desborough without having to carry out U-turns?

 

I am aware that the school principal is astounded that she has not been consulted about this, in particular that the road closure is going to disrupt the school yet again only just after it has re-opened.

 

Rothwell Medical Centre

 

Rothwell Medical Centre and Lloyds Pharmacy appear to be in the middle of the closed section. Will access still be available for patients and customers, particularly for those travelling to and from Desborough? It is vital that the Covid vaccination process is not interrupted.

 

Emergency Vehicles

 

Emergency vehicles invariably have to travel from the Kettering area to access Desborough. The use of the much longer and heavily congested diversionary route will significantly increase response times and could jeopardise patient safety.

 

Public Service Vehicles

 

Stagecoach provides a twenty minute weekday bus service each way between Rothwell and Desborough and the diversion will create a major disruption to their timetable. Has consideration been given to how the buses will collect and drop their passengers on either side of the closure both in Rothwell Rd, Desborough and Desborough Rd, Rothwell?

 

Construction Vehicles

 

How do you propose to route the construction vehicles to and from your own site when the Desborough side of the main road junction is closed? Will they have to travel through Rothwell since that would be contrary to your Construction Management Plan?

 

Construction Management Plan (CMP)

 

The proposed work is in breach of the CMP which requires that “The site will be constructed in a phased manner to minimise the impact of the development on existing residents and businesses located in the nearby towns of Rothwell and Desborough. Road improvements will be delivered at the appropriate stages in order to ensure that disruption to the local transport network is minimisedduring construction.

 

Conclusion

 

I do not think that Paul John Construction has properly assessed the implications of this work. Similar junction construction work takes place in other areas without the need for complete closures.

 

If a complete closure is absolutely necessary, can this be carried out at night with single flow traffic taking place during the day? If not, the work should take place during the school holidays with night work as well to ensure the minimum of disruption.

 

Regards,

 

Rick Hill

o/b/o Rothwell North Working Party

B576 Road Closure

 The B576 road will be closed for two weeks to allow work to continue with the junction to the Rothwell North development. This will run from 5th April to 18th April 2021. More details can be found at

https://one.network/?tm=121337746

The RNWP are unhappy about a number of aspects of this. In particular we have concerns over the routing of the alternative route along Harrington Road in Rothwell and Braybrooke Road in Desborough. Both of these routes are already difficult because of the volume of traffic and parked cars. The B576 currently takes 6000 cars per day and 12000 before the lockdown. If these are routed along these roads then there could be major traffic jams and an increase in accidents. This will also affect access to Montsaye School, including buses, and the Medical Centre.

We are asking for the closure to only occur overnight, if it has to be fully closed, and the re-routing to be along the A14 - A6 to the B576 roundabouts. We understand our Borough Council have approved the plans but where was the consultation with affected residents and the school and medical centre management?

Rothwell North Working Party End of 2020 Report

 Happy New Year from the Rothwell North Working Party. 

Rothwell North Working Party – end of 2020 report to the community and all stakeholders. 

Rothwell North Working Party (RNWP) was established in 2017 to be the “eyes and ears” of the communities of Rothwell, Desborough, and the surrounding villages as the plans to build 700 homes and relevant infrastructure to the north of Rothwell have evolved. RNWP have met monthly since that time to ensure that the interests of existing and future residents have been, and are, taken into consideration before and now during construction. 

Strong relationships have been built up with the developer, Persimmon Homes, along with other organisations and councils who have been regularly updated on progress with appropriate, timely two-way feedback given. 

Successes to date are the reduction from 350 homes being the trigger for the Strategic Link Road to be opened down to 150 homes or 3 years from commencement of development (February 2020). Through detailed lobbying an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system was installed at the time of the development commencing to ensure that HGV’s use the agreed traffic management route and not minor roads especially at peak times when students are going to and from Montsaye Academy and the other Rothwell schools. 

Without the #Linkroadfirst campaign and petition raised by RNWP it is unlikely that reductions in the numbers of HGV movements would have been achieved. RNWP’s “Truck Watch” campaign has publicised the importance of HGV’s using official routes and encouraged residents to let Persimmon know if residential roads are being used. 

RNWP is looking forward to continuing to build relationships with all the stakeholders as the development progresses from the first phase which is currently under construction through to completion. 

Whilst maintaining current activity, RNWP will continue to constructively engage with Persimmon Homes, Rothwell and Desborough Town Councils, Kettering Borough and Northamptonshire County Councils (then their replacement North Northamptonshire Council, from April 2021), Montsaye Academy, existing residents as well as the new residents moving in as the homes are completed. 

Areas of particular interest in the future will be the potential for a new access to Montsaye, getting the employment area commenced, the new primary school, commencing the affordable housing, the development of plans to build to the south of Desborough, improving air quality locally and the planned parking facilities for Rothwell Corinthians football club. 

The working party meetings are open to anyone with an interest in how this development is progressing. Currently meetings are held virtually using Zoom Video conferencing but will go back to meeting in person when Covid restrictions enable that. 

RNWP welcomes contributions from anyone interested in this significant expansion of Rothwell so that we can all enjoy being part of our growing community. 

From all the members of RNWP 

If you would like to contact RNWP you can email us on rothnwp@gmail.com 

see our Facebook Page - Rothwell North Working Party – RNWP, 

follow us on Twitter @rothwellnwp, or visit our website -rothwellnorth.blogspot.com