'Road to nowhere' starts going places

The opening of the road will reduce some of the impact of the new homes on the surrounding villages

The first part of a long-awaited relief road serving new housing estates has opened to the public.

The section of the Sandy Lane Relief Road on the edge of Northampton connects residents of the new houses with the existing Sandy Lane.

Part of the existing road has been closed for more than a year, prompting complaints from long-term residents.

The local council has apologised to local people and businesses for the delay in opening the route.

When work stopped on a major road to serve about 800 new houses a decade ago, the part-completed route was dubbed "the road to nowhere".

Construction finally got under way again last year, and part of the existing Sandy Lane between Kislingbury and Duston was closed while work took place.

Residents were told it would reopen in March, but the date was then put back for several weeks, prompting complaints from residents who had to use a diversion and from businesses who lost trade.

A section has now opened to traffic.

Local residents have had to put up with a long-term road closure

Stuart Timmiss from Conservative-controlled West Northamptonshire Council said: “We know in implementing much-needed new housing developments there can be impact on residents, but we have sought to mitigate these as much as possible and address issues as they arose.

“I would like to apologise to the residents of Harpole and Duston, and businesses in the area, who have had a difficult time while this closure has been in place, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience."

He added that discussions would continue to get the whole relief road completed as soon as possible.

Businesses complained that they lost passing trade because of the closure

A spokesperson on behalf of the two developers, Vistry Group and Miller Homes, said: “We also appreciate the disruption this has caused while the road was being built and would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused, and now hope road users will benefit from the improved transport infrastructure for many years to come.