Corby businessman walks £12m levelling-up cycle lane to show council bosses what he thinks of the plan

“It’s a folly.”

That’s the view of a Corby man who’s angry at council bosses spending £12m on less than a mile of cycle lane in the town.

North Northants Council are proposing to spend the huge sum on a safe route for pedestrians, cyclists and other pavement-users between Elizabeth Street and the railway station.

The money is coming from the Government’s Towns and Levelling Up funds – which will be given to NNC in the form of grants.

But Neil Campbell thinks it would be much better spent elsewhere. He’s angry that local people weren’t consulted over the plans for the cash and says that it’s inappropriate to be spending such a sum on the project when people can’t find dentists and don’t feel safe walking through their own neighbourhoods at night.

After asking for opinions on the town’s largest Facebook group, Neil was inundated with people agreeing with him. In a vote of more than 700 people, the overwhelming majority said they’d had zero consultation.

So what’s the scheme about?

It’s a safe route for cyclists, pedestrians and other pavement-users between Elizabeth Street and the railway station. It’s costing £12m. The money had originally been applied for by the Corby Town Deal Board which bid for £25m from the government’s Town Fund. But the fund was only awarded £19.9m so allocated only £8.5m to the cycle lane. The council now wants to top-up the amount with a £3.5m bid for the rest of the cash from the government’s Levelling Up fund.

It means the under-pass under Oakley Road will be filled-in, with pedestrian crossings improved. The slip-road at East Avenue will be lost. But there’ll be no replacement for steep steps up from Oakley Road so those who can’t carry their bikes, wheelchair and pushchair users, will still have to take a longer route round to the station.

A second phase, which isn’t yet funded, could join up the ends to make a circular route from Elizabeth Street along Cottingham Road.

Who’s Neil Campbell?

Neil’s lived in Corby for 50 years and runs a successful IT business. He was alarmed that so much money was being spent on one project when there were people living in poverty on Corby’s estates.

He asked members of a Corby Facebook page whether they’d been consulted. More than 700 replied and 96 per cent said they hadn’t taken part in any consultation.

Neil decided to walk the route to see where the money could be going. The Northants Telegraph joined him.

He told this newspaper: “People can’t get an NHS dentist. They can’t get a bus to where they need to go. Go and look at the Kingswood and Hazel Leys estate. See what they need there.

"The town centre is dangerous to walk through at night. We need policing.

"This isn’t levelling up, it’s a folly. The route needs some work to make it safer for bikes but £12m? It’s totally, wholly, unnecessary.

"This is not ‘government money’, it’s our money.

"I want to know what the return on the investment is going to be. Other areas are doing cycle lanes and they’re costing nothing like £12m. Leicester are doing one for £1.5m.”

What do councillors think?

Cllr Willie Colquhoun (Lab, Lloyds) and Cllr Simon Rielly (Lab, Oakley) met Neil on his walk. Cllr Colquhoun said: “This is a vanity project by NNC. We’ve got a perfectly good cycle lane on the other side of the road.”

What about the people living along the route?

The news came as a surprise to most residents of East Avenue, who first read about the project in the Northants Telegraph. They say they weren’t consulted and are angry at the loss of the slip-road into the street.

One resident told our reporter: “It’s difficult enough to get in and out of the street as it is. How are we going to do it without the slip road and having to dodge cyclists? It’s going to be dangerous.”

No formal consultation has yet taken place with residents, despite most of the funding being in place and the plans being at an advanced stage.

So whose idea was the cycle lane?

The idea of the cycle lane was first mooted by the Town Board, which was made up of unelected, invited ‘community leaders’, including private business leaders, councillors and local organisations. They met in private and the minutes of their meetings were never made public. They were in charge of bidding for up to £25m of government money for Corby and were eventually awarded £19.9m for several projects including a new college in Chisholm House. This included £8.5m to put toward the cycle lane.

The levelling up fund is providing the rest of the cash – provided the council’s bid is successful. Locals could nominate projects for this fund but the parameters were considered to be narrow with only ‘shovel ready’ projects considered, along with those that could be ready within a short time-frame.

This caused some significant upset across North Northamptonshire.

NNC officers presented their plan for the cycle lane at a meeting in May, and stressed that they were given only had a very short timeframe by the Government to come up with the plan.

Given the money is part of a Government bidding-process and is ringfenced for specific projects, it’s very unlikely that it will now be used for anything other than a cycle lane.

NNC have been contacted for comment.