Council puts up cash to get Corby's northern orbital road going again

Northamptonshire County Council is putting up £300,000 to assess the work needed to finish Corby’s unfinished Northern orbital road.

The road, which was supposed to link the town’s Phoenix Parkway to the rest of the major highway network to the north and east of Corby, was left unfinished when Bela, the developer constructing it, went bankrupt in 2015.

Now as part of its recently agreed £4.5m transport study and highway scheme preparation work, the county council has committed the cash to get things moving again.

A report to the council’s cabinet meeting last week said: “The Corby Northern Orbital Road is intended to open up residential and commercial development opportunities to the north-east of Corby. The road has been left incomplete due to the bankruptcy of the developer who was constructing it. The funding will be used to assess the work and costs that would be required to complete the road, in order to inform future funding bids.”

A scheme for the road was first approved back in 2007 and is linked to the building of the Priors Hall housing estate. The Homes and Communities Agency (now renamed Home England ) and the areas South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership had funded the road to the tune of millions.

When developer Bela went under the road lay unfinished.

Other projects that the county council is currently trying to progress include phase 3 of the A43 which will extend the dualling nothwards from the Overstone Grange roundabout to the Holcot/Sywell roundabout. The authority has committed £500,000 to pay for a strategic business case which could unlock money from the Government’s Major Road Network.

A sum of £100,000 will also be spent on moving forward the scheme design and funding bids for improvements between Rothwell Road and Northfield Avenue in Kettering. This would involve improved walking and cycling routes and upgrading the junction at Warren Hill and Gypsy Lane.