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Villagers to discuss where next for Farthinghoe after bypass ruled out
22/01/2025
The Parish Council have suggested a weight restriction; West Northants Council says it looking to present a number of options
People in Farthinghoe will be holding a meeting tomorrow morning (Thursday) to discuss their next move following last week’s announcement that West Northamptonshire Council have ruled out a bypass for the village. They are hoping that some of the people who use the A422 through Farthinghoe – including HGV drivers – will join them.
Campaigners have long fought to reduce the number of journeys through the centre of the village, particularly by lorries which have in the past become stuck or involved in accidents on the narrow streets.
In announcing their Local Transport Plan West Northamptonshire Council suggested that an “A422 traffic mitigation scheme” would replace the idea of a bypass for Farthinghoe. This could involve the use of traffic lights to control flows through the village.
Mick Morris, Chairman of Farthinghoe Parish Council, said this would simply result in gridlock: “In our opinion, the traffic lights would generate traffic queues, particularly during rush hour, but not only in rush hour. The estimate we were given of the queue lengths that these traffic lights might generate is actually about one-third of what would actually happen.
“When traffic lights have been put into our road to do roadworks we’ve physically checked the length of the queues that it generates, and we know that it backs up our previous thoughts.
“People who drive from Banbury to Brackley, or Brackley to Banbury, have told us it adds about 25 minutes or half an hour, to their travel time when there are roadworks in Farthinghoe.
“Not only does it cause the queues but it then send the vehicles which can’t wait to use the narrow lanes in the village as a rat run.”
The Parish Council have suggested an alternative approach of a weight limit being introduced for the A422, which would take most of the lorries off the road. Mr Morris says the idea was shared with West Northamptonshire Council, who agreed to produce a report on the proposal by the spring of 2024. But this deadline has been postponed twice and a letter from Mr Morris to the council’s Chief Executive last October asking for an update hasn’t yet received a reply.
The problem with heavy good vehicles is exacerbated when the M40 is closed between junctions 11 and 10, with the A422 becoming part of the diversionary route.
Mr Morris said: “We’ve got statistics from Oxfordshire County Council. On one particular afternoon it added 5,000 vehicles to the traffic flow through Farthinghoe.
“When the road was closed overnight it tripled the number of vehicles travelling through Farthinghoe in an overnight session and this was particularly HGVs, which rattle through the village all night long and don’t give anybody any sleep.”
Thursday’s meeting will be held in Farthinghoe Village Hall from 11am and anyone interested in finding a solution to the village’s traffic problems is invited to attend.
A spokesperson for West Northamptonshire Council told us: “The opportunity of delivering a bypass around Farthinghoe has been studied over many years with significant investment provided in developing a business case for funding. That business case shows the economic case for such a scheme is low and therefore government has been very clear that funding a scheme of the scale and outcomes will not be considered.
“As a Council we have always acknowledged that as well as the number of vehicles going through the village, the pinch point where large vehicles have collided on a number of occasions does need to be resolved.
“To that end we have over the past four years worked with Farthinghoe Parish Council to continue to explore and identify various options. A proposal to install traffic lights was recently investigated but in consultation with the parish council was found not to be acceptable. We have therefore agreed to do further work in assessing other alternatives and will present the outcome of this work to residents at an engagement event in the coming weeks. These options included looking at weight limits and so this will be included during the event.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam