Active Travel Fund
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department for Transport allocated funding to local authorities to encourage more walking and cycling, and we were successful in securing monies from Tranche 1, detailed at the bottom of this page.
In Tranche 2 of funding, we were invited to bid for further funds for permanent measures which promote active travel.
£1.332m was awarded to fund:
- improved cycling facilities along Billing Road between York Road and Rushmere Road
- light segregation provided on west/southbound cycle lane on:
- Wellingborough Road (west of Church Way)
- Abington Park Crescent
- Park Avenue South
Following strong opposition from local residents and businesses to an original proposal to convert Billing Road into a one-way road, we have worked with the Department for Transport to revise the proposal and instead develop an alternative that encourages walking and cycling.
Tranche 2 - Abington Area Active Travel Scheme: Billing Road Corridor
The Abington Area Active Travel Scheme now seeks to improve:
- Abington Park Crescent – a new segregated 2-way cycleway that meets a new upgraded crossing at the junction with Park Avenue South
- Bridgewater Drive - a new 2-way cycleway towards the school and new road crossings
- Park Avenue South - new cycleways that merge into existing cycling facilities
- Billing Road / Rushmere Road junction – significant pedestrian crossing facilities, enabling ‘all direction crossing’, along with improved traffic signal technology to better manage all movements
Consultation details
The consultation on these proposals launched on 1 February and will run for 6 weeks, closing at midnight on 15 March.
West Northamptonshire Council is keen to seek views from residents and stakeholders on these proposals ahead of reviewing the findings and starting the detailed design in Summer 2023.
Find out more about our proposals and speak to the project team at our drop-in event at Abington Park Museum on 16 February 2023 between 2pm and 8pm.
Or you can find visit our online engagement room where you can also complete a survey to give us your views about the proposals.
You can also respond to this consultation by email or post.
Email: [email protected]
Write to:
FAO Abington Active Travel Consultation
West Northamptonshire Council
The Guildhall
St Giles Square
Northampton
NN1 1DE
If you need assistance to enable you to respond to the consultation, including receiving information in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language, please email or telephone 0300 126 7000 and we’ll do our best to assist you.
Tranche 1 - what we did
The purpose of this survey was to gain the views of the population as a whole on the need for improvements to walking and cycling facilities, the types of improvements that are needed and some of the challenges faced in implementation.
To ensure that this survey was representative, it was undertaken using sampling from household/census data.
The survey was undertaken during January and February 2021.
In addition, it is planned to pose the same or similar questions via specific groups such as disabled and older person's forums, the Local Access Forum, business groups and cycling groups.
While some of the same questions will be asked, this will provide an opportunity to explore topics of particular relevance to each group in greater detail.
Analysis of these responses will be undertaken separately from the main sample, so as not to compromise its representative nature.
We installed cycle racks at the following locations; except where marked as temporary they were intended to be permanent:
- Brackley, High Street, near to Town Hall (temporary)
- Brixworth Library
- Brixworth, Northampton Road near Kennel Terrace
- Harlestone Firs, adjacent to Harlestone Firs car park
- Moulton, Stocks Hill outside Co-op
- Northampton, Abington Park
- Northampton, Abington Street additional stands near Wellington Street
- Northampton, Abington Street near St Giles Terrace
- Northampton, Fish Street
- Northampton, Guildhall Road
- Northampton, Horsemarket, Sol Central Entrance Plaza
- Northampton, St Giles Street between Castillian Street and Hazelwood Road
- Northampton, St Giles Street near post office
- Roade, High Street, outside newsagent
- Towcester Brackley Road near A5 junction (temporary)
- Towcester, Brackley Road/Pomfret Road
- Woodford Halse, Station Road, outside pharmacy
The bus stop providing services from bay 18 towards Grange Park and Milton Keynes from The Drapery has been temporarily relocated to Mercers Row. 2 bus stopping points were created.
To accommodate this the taxi rank area on Mercers Row has been temporarily reconfigured to reduce the number of taxi parking bays. Additional taxi parking bays have been created on George Row with wheelchair access still available.
We installed wands to segregate the southbound cycle lane on a section of Rushmere Road.
Works to remove the wands and make repairs to the road surface were completed in February 2021.
We temporarily widened the footways on the north side of St Giles Street to enable social distancing.
Bus lanes along Weedon Road and St James Road were extended to operate 24 hours per day from Monday 3 August 2020. This change benefited cyclists and taxis who are permitted to use the bus lane and was subsequently made permanent.
Last updated 14 February 2023