'Delight' as £1.2m repair promised for 'atrocious' road near A45 put on North Northants highways' priority list
A road near Earls Barton described by residents as 'atrocious' has been put on North Northants highways' priority list for repair.
Motorists using Station Road and the River Nene crossing near Earls Barton have been having to weave through potholes as the surface is in such a bad condition.
Parish councils and unitary councillors had been calling for urgent works to repair the stretch of road which runs from the old station house, past the Hanson gravel extraction works and over the two bridges across the Nene.
But pleas to put the repair to the top of North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) priority road repairs list went unanswered under the former Conservative administration.
Now, Reform leader of NNC Cllr Martin Griffiths, who campaigned for repairs when representing the area as an independent, has announced the maintenance will be prioritised.
He said: “I am delighted to report that my new executive member for highways, Cllr Chris McGiffen, has just signed the paperwork to complete £1.2m of repairs to Station Road (The Bends) Earls Barton.”
Work on the bridges, that have been hit by regular floods, will begin next year.
The road is said to be almost ‘completely collapsed’ on the stretch of road that is directly outside a quarry and receives ‘significant’ HGV traffic daily.
In August 2024, Cllr Griffiths said: “This has been raised at parish council meetings for many a long year. It’s time it got sorted. The road is a disgrace. It should be number one on the list.”
Welcoming the announcement, Cllr Scott Brown (Earls Barton/Con) said: “This is extremely positive news. I’m really pleased that it looks like it’s going ahead. It’s good that a politician is true to his word. It’s great for my constituents and the result of some hard lobbying by ward councillors.
“Discussions with the new administration have been very positive and following the full council meeting I spoke to the portfolio holder for highways Cllr Chris McGiffen and had it confirmed that Station Road will be one of the main priorities for this administration. He confirmed that we will see Station Road completely relaid alongside some bridge repairs."
Cllr McGiffen (Pemberton/Reform) told councillors at the full council meeting last month that he was ‘personally invested’ in improving road conditions as a motorcyclist.
He said: “I am completely aware of the capacity for ill-maintained roads to cause serious issues and worse for people like me.”
The budget for road resurfacing and bridge repairs in North Northamptonshire is just over £15m for the year 2025/26. Next year it will rise to £20m.