Calls for village bypass rejected by council

Much traffic passes through the village of Farthinghoe, near Brackley

Long-standing calls for a bypass to ease traffic in a village have been rejected, as council leaders declared the plan "undeliverable".

For years, residents of Farthinghoe in Northamptonshire have campaigned for relief from the daily traffic that congests the village.

West Northamptonshire Council announced the bypass would not be included in its Local Transport Plan (LTP) - a document outlining transport priorities for the next 20 years.

Phil Larratt, Conservative cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The problem we have with Farthinghoe is that the case just does not stack up.

"As an authority, we have invested more money than we would in any other business case in order to try and make it work. It just got us nowhere."

Instead of the bypass, the council's transport plan suggests implementing an A422 traffic mitigation scheme by 2030.

The council's consultation report said: "A bypass is not considered deliverable during the plan period up to 2045. Work is continuing to identify a preferred mitigation option."

Some council members expressed concerns about the definitive language used in rejecting the bypass, with assistant cabinet member Tony Bagot-Webb urging a softer approach and for the plans to be relooked at.

'Done to death'

But Stuart Timmiss, executive director of place, economy and environment at the council, said: "It's not the place of the LTP to put in undeliverable schemes.

"I'd like to do something in Farthinghoe, I'd like to put a solution that will mitigate some of those issues - all we need is that resident support.

"The opportunity that we have looked at and we've done to death is the bypass - there just ain't that money there."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service added that other excluded projects included A45 junction improvements and the Northampton Northern Orbital.