North Northants Council to spend another £1.5m on preparatory work for Isham Bypass

Extra funding for work on a bypass project that road users have been waiting decades for has been given the go-ahead by councillors.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) voted to accept a plan to spend an extra £1.5m on developing an outline business case and planning application for the Isham Bypass.

The former Northamptonshire County Council started a plan to dual all of the A509 between the A14 south of Kettering and the A45 at Wellingborough.

Funding worth about £2.7m is already in place but NNC said work on the project is ‘more extensive than previously thought’ and needs more money.

NNC’s executive director of place and economy, George Candler, said the planning application could be submitted in July, with the outline business case being submitted immediately afterwards.

According to NNC’s website, the scheme will cut congestion on the A509, improve the link between Kettering and Wellingborough, improve access to the A14 and relieve some through traffic through Isham.

Any funding to build the road will be sought from the government’s Major Road Network programme.

Cllr Clive Hallam, who represents Earls Barton, said he became ‘more proactive’ in local politics in 2006 when he moved to Isham.

He joined the parish council and then Wellingborough District Council.

“Isham does deserve its bypass. One of the first things I found when I moved there is that you avoid peak times when traffic just stops,” he told a NNC meeting on Thursday.

Cllr Jon-Paul Carr, who represents Irchester, said: “I found reference to Isham needing a bypass in the 1930s.

"My parents nearly bought a house in Isham the year I was born and decided it was a bad idea until a bypass was built. I am not going to disclose my age but [he was born] over 40 years ago.”