Plans to dual A509 between Kettering and Isham set for approval

A scheme to dual 1km of a busy A road between Kettering and Wellingborough is set to be approved tomorrow (March 10).

The developer behind Symmetry Park is putting forward the plan to dual the stretch of the A509 that runs between Junction 9 of the A14 and Isham.

The road upgrade is a condition of the planning permission for the controversial warehouse park which was given planning consent last April, against the wishes of many Isham residents who have been plagued for years by rising traffic levels between the two major towns it is sandwiched between. It is now estimated that 23,000 vehicles a day use the road.

However, the parish council is objecting to the dualling partly because it says the position of the roundabout is different to the one proposed for the bypass scheme and will create a ‘hind leg route’ for the bypass.

Last month, after years of raised and then dashed hopes, Wellingborough Council pledged £1m to get design work and site assessments for the bypass started – however the bulk of the £40m for the bypass has not been secured.

Kettering planning officers in their report to go before the planning committee on Tuesday (March 10) say the dualling could act as phase one of the bypass and would cut down the cost of the bypass for local authorities. They recommend that councillors sign off the planning application.

The report says: “The proposal would constitute delivery of a phase (approximately 1km) of the Isham Bypass and thereby would mean that the total amount of funding required by local authority partners to deliver the overall bypass could reduce.

“The proposal is to dual the existing A509, with the existing road forming the southbound dual carriageway and a new constructed element to the west forming the northbound dual carriageway. The dualling will extend for approximately 1km from Junction 9 of the A14 to the new roundabout and would have a 50mph speed limit. The construction of a new roundabout toward the southern extent of the site is proposed with three arms. The northern arm would serve the proposed dualled stretch of the A509 with the opposite arm serving the retained single A509 carriageway, which will be remodelled to have regard to the proposed roundabout. The new roundabout will access Symmetry Park to the east with an adjacent drainage basin proposed.”

Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), which acts as the Highways Planning authority, had initially raised concerns about the dualling proposal but now say they are content.

In a statement to the Kettering planning authority NCC said: “Following on from the LHA’s previous consultation response, discussions have been ongoing with the applicant and sufficient technical information has now been provided regarding the design of the dualling works to enable us to remove our objection to the application.

“The LHA was seeking comfort that the highway works were likely to gain technical approval from Northamptonshire Highways prior to making a positive recommendation to the Local Planning Authority (LPA). We have subsequently received such confirmation from our highway adoption team. As such, we would recommend that a suitably worded planning condition is applied to any consent, should the LPA be minded to approve the application, to ensure that prior to commencement of any development or works that full engineering and construction details of the highway works are submitted to and agreed by the LPA.”

The scheme will also include upgrading the cycle and footpaths between Kettering and Isham which would make it possible to safely bike or walk between the two locations.