The Geddington Bypass
The Corby Link Road
The New A43
Whatever you know it by, this road is nearing completion. It seems a long time since this road was first mooted and it has been – decades. A potted history is set out below, but first some images of what we shall be seeing:
All these images were taken on Sunday 13th April 2014.
The Opening Ceremony will be performed by Robert Goodwill MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary Department for Transport, on Friday 23rd May at 12noon
Further details on the opening will follow shortly.
The latest discussions on the subject of a second Geddington Bypass, came about in the Spring of 1998 (the first bypass was the A43, of course). Following a public meeting, when the problems of the A43 were raised, Cllr Harker responded with a letter in The Newsletter by “urging with renewed effort, our campaign for a bypass.” An A43 Action Group was set-up and an Open Meeting was held attended by members of the County Council, Kettering and Corby Borough Councils, the Highways Agency, the Police and the then MP, Phil Sawford. According to one representative of the authorities ‘there was a steely resolve’ in the Hall.
During the following 4 years, the Action Group were extremely busy, lobbying Whitehall, influencing Local Transport Policy and getting assurances about the proposed Corby Racetrack, known nowadays as the Rockingway Speedway. Amongst other things, the Group was instrumental in getting the 30mph speed limit through the village, a new pedestrian crossing at Grange Road and improvements to the Newton Road crossing.
With all their efforts, in November of 2000, a Bypass Route for Appraisal was issued – the route that is now being built – between the Stanion Roundabout and the Barford Bridge Roundabout, and once agreement had been reached, a start date of 2006. Agreement was finally reached in December of 2002.
The members of the A43 Action Group were:
Charlie McCormick, John Cole, John Doran, Bill Driver, Helen Featherstone, Margaret Paragreen, Mike Wilson and the instigator of the whole idea of an action group, the Revd Richard Dorrington. Cllr Keith A’Ness was the Parish Council link, with Cllrs Jim Harker and John Padwick, as the ex-officio County and Borough links.
However, Chairman Charlie McCormick, was the first to admit that while the Action Group members worked tirelessly, it couldn’t have been done without the help of hundreds of Geddington residents. He was overwhelming in his thanks to everyone involved.