Sunday, February 28, 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 5th and 18th 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

No comments:

Post a Comment