Residents 'devastated' over relief road plans

A petition opposing the Bowburn Relief Road has received about 100 signatures

Residents of a housing estate have said they are devastated at plans for a new main road which could run alongside their back gardens.

The route, in Bowburn, County Durham, is proposed as part of the second phase of the £250m Integra 61 development of industrial and manufacturing units.

Developer Citrus said the road, which would link to the A177, will reduce traffic in Bowburn, but resident Lynne Hodgson said the impact would be "huge".

Durham County Council, which is likely to deliver the route alongside Citrus, said it understood the concerns and would work with all involved to ensure the road would provide "as little disruption as possible".

Residents' gardens currently overlook a field

Ms Hogson's home on The Grange estate in Bowburn, which currently overlooks a field, would be directly affected if the plans go ahead.

She said the road and an acoustic barrier would be too close to properties.

"We are devastated - it's going to have a huge impact," Ms Hodgson said, adding she believes an existing bypass from the A1(M) motorway, which takes traffic away from Bowburn and Coxhoe, should be promoted rather than building a new road.

"The whole of Bowburn will be surrounded by roads," she said.

"The A177 goes through Bowburn and travels into Shincliffe village, where there's loads of accidents.

"Another road surrounding the estate is not going to prevent traffic. It's still going to end up on the A177 going through Shincliffe village."

The Bowburn Development Route would run alongside some houses in the village

Citrus regional director James Taylor said: "The relief road is required to assist with relieving traffic pressures on to junction 61 of the A1(M) and has been proposed by stakeholders for many years."

He said the firm was undertaking a detailed study on the noise, air and visual impact of the road in order to find ways to mitigate issues.

Durham County Council, which said it had previously identified the need for a relief road to manage future increases in traffic, vowed to "work closely with residents and the developer" to ensure "as little disruption as possible".

'Terrible to lose'

Concerns have also been raised in Shincliffe that the relief road would serve a new development of about 320 homes in Bowburn.

Gary Cutter, from High Shincliffe, said the A177, local schools and doctors' surgeries were already at capacity.

"I don't know how we'd cope," he said.

"At the minute we live in a semi-rural area, it would be terrible to lose that and to become just one giant housing estate."

Housing developer iMpEC said it was "already actively engaging" with Bowburn residents and "listening to all views".

Deer are sometimes spotted on the land where the road could be built

Ms Hodgson said she bought her house nine years ago and was told at the time the land behind her garden would be landscaped.

"If we'd known back in 2016 that this was going to happen, we'd never would have purchased our property," she said.

A spokesperson for Persimmon Durham, the developers of the The Grange estate, said planning permission granted for the site showed the adjacent land as "safeguarded for 'a potential Bowburn Relief Road'".

"This information was... readily available for purchasers' solicitors to discuss with their clients," they said.

"It is our understanding that... there is still no definitive time-frame for a relief road being built."