Just 13 per cent of people say they're in favour of Corby's new £12m cycle path after 'public engagement' sessions

Only 39 people in Corby have told the council that they are in favour of a £12.09m cycle route from the town centre to Corby railway station.

The scheme attracted controversy last summer when it was revealed how much the path along Oakley Road, which is less than a mile long, was going to cost.

Locals were upset they hadn’t been consulted on the plan, so North Northamptonshire Council held a public engagement event to gather views.

It was held between September and October 2022 and the results have now been published.

They showed that 135 people out of 299 respondents thought that the scheme was a ‘waste of money’, and 88 believed that the money should have been spent on something else. Seventy three respondents said there was no need for the facility as there is an existing path on the other side of the road.

Others had worries about the cost of the scheme, parking issues and safety concerns.

The project is the brainchild of the Towns Fund Board and funded from two pots – with £8.5m already in the bag from the government’s Towns Fund. North Northants Council had hoped to top this up to £12m with £3.5m from the Government’s Levelling Up round two fund. However it was revealed last week that the NNC bid had failed. So the cash will have to come from a new, unknown, source.

Last year, local businessman Neil Campbell walked the route to show NNC bosses where he thought the plan fell down. After seeing the engagement feedbavk, he said: “A much as I welcome investment into the town, there needs to be transparency from NNC with regards to the proposed costings for the 'cycle-lane' which seems wholly disproportionate to other applications from other authorities for similar investment projects, all being made available from the Governments leveling-up fund.

"There are so many other better opportunities within Corby, that this funding could benefit. It is clear from a poll recently undertaken via social media, that the residents of Corby, simply do not want this project to proceed."

The engagement feedback was non-binding though NNC will consider it as the project moves forward.

A statement on the website says: “The public engagement event was not a public consultation exercise, it was an exercise undertaken by the delivery team to engage and seek the views of the local community and those who will be impacted by proposals at the concept design stage.

“This feedback would then be used to inform and develop the design brief and criteria used in the subsequent stages of the scheme and be used as a baseline in a future formal consultation exercise when the design is more developed.”

When approached, NNC said they did not want to comment further.

The design team will now produce a range of new concept designs that will be published in April before another public consultation in autumn. Work could begin in spring 2024.