Controversially delayed road set to OPEN to thousands of motorists next month, says leader of the council

Sandy Lane, which sits between Duston and Harpole, has been closed to thousands of motorists for a whole year now while reconstruction works are carried out as part of wider plans to build hundreds of new homes in the area.

The Sandy Lane Relief Road (SLRR), which runs parallel to the old Sandy Lane, has been under construction since June 2023 and was supposed to open on April 1.

Leader of WNC, Conservative councillor Adam Brown has confirmed today (Thursday, May 30) to Chronicle and Echo that the northern part of the Sandy Lane Relief Road (SLRR), from Berrywood Road, will open to traffic and join on to the old Sandy Lane as a temporary link until the southern section is completed.

Councillor Brown said: “Officers confirmed that as of yesterday (Wednesday) the top section of the SLRR is on track to be completed in June. The last of the surfacing is taking place which will be followed by line painting and the final inspections before the road can open.”

The leader did not confirm a precise date in June however.

In regards to the southern section of the road, aka the ‘road to nowhere’, WNC recently said the council is continuing ‘positive discussions’ with Homes England, the owner of the land surrounding the short stretch of relief road which will be the final part of the direct connection with the A4500.

WNC said on April 11 that the SLRR’s opening was delayed due to developers at the site completing ‘unauthorised works’. WNC did not disclose who it was but did confirm it was neither Miller Homes or Vistry, the developers building the two housing estates along Sandy Lane.

Stuart Timmiss, Executive Director of WNC, said: “In our statement dated 11.04.24, we referred to ‘unauthorised works by the developers’ contributing to delays to the opening of the road. The statement was not intended to attribute blame to any one party as there are multiple stakeholders involved with the entire SLRR project beyond the two house builders, Miller Homes and Vistry. WNC can confirm that neither Miller Homes or Vistry were responsible for instructing the ‘unauthorised works’.

"We are working tirelessly with all stakeholders to open the new section of the relief road to link to the existing Sandy Lane, therefore to ensure positive working relationships between all parties to achieve this end goal, we are not providing any further comment on who instructed the [unauthorised] works.”

A spokeswoman for Vistry and Miller Homes said: “We continue to apologise for any disruption the closure of Sandy Lane is having within the community, please be assured that collectively, Vistry, Miller Homes and WNC are working tirelessly to reopen the road as soon as possible.

“The SLRR will provide a vastly improved transport infrastructure to the area and whilst we fully understand the short-term challenges imposed by the road closures, these are necessary precautions to enable works to be completed safely and deliver long term benefits to the community.”

The two businesses which operate along Sandy Lane – Sandy Lane Plants and Thread – have both called for compensation following the affects construction chaos has had on their businesses. However, neither Miller Homes or WNC say they can compensate either business – here’s why.