Banburyshire village fears a unique opportunity to use HS2 money for a a desperately needed bypass may be rejected

The village’s narrow main road has been a notorious bottle neck for heavy goods vehicles, creating danger for other motorists and pedestrians.

For decades, householders have been plagued by traffic thundering past their doors as volume has increased.

Now the parish council has seen a vital opportunity, with the Government’s issue of £162 million to West Northants Council (WNC) from the abandoned HS2 North project, as a never-to-be repeated windfall that could help to provide a £30m bypass.

Neighbouring Middleton Cheney – which was never as narrow as Farthinghoe – was bypassed two decades ago.

But the decision over a bypass appears to hang on a ‘benefit to cost ratio’. This has been whittled down to figures of less than one, according to South Northants MP Andrea Leadsom who had before the last election that a bypass was her top priority.

The benefit to cost ratio, she says, is less than a pound's worth of value for every pound spent. Farthinghoe believes the value would be far higher not only for the village but for the wider transport economy.

A statement from South Northants MP Andrea Leadsom to the Banbury Guardian this week indicates a piecemeal solution to a specific ‘pinch point’ in Farthinghoe may be all the village will get.

Farthinghoe Parish Council chairman, Mick Morris, said: “The parish council has always considered a bypass to be the only desired outcome to solve the nightmare of our long-established A422 traffic problems within the village, with a weight restriction as an interim solution to cover the lengthy period it would take to design approve and build the bypass.

“A very sketchy interim solution was proposed but was rejected two years ago by the parish council due to our grave suspicions about its plausibility. We have heard nothing more about this for two years now.

“In September 2023, we were promised by WNC that a interim weight limit study would be completed by this spring - and being a couple of weeks away from spring we assume that these details must be imminent.”

Farthinghoe Parish Council has twice challenged the methodology and accuracy of important elements of the report which it feels have compromised its outcome and thus almost certainly understated WNC’s benefit/cost ratio (BCR) figure. No ‘meaningful’ answers have been received.

“We are already aware of a very similar bypass requirement in Cumbria which was submitted for major road network (MRN) funding in 2018 and which was approved by the Department for Transport. It had a quoted BCR of 1.5 which was described as ‘medium value’.

“At the same time as the Cumbrian MRN, Northants County Council (NCC) had the same opportunity organised by Dame Andrea, but they decided to ignore a Farthinghoe submission completely and instead chose to prepare what was described as a “Back Up” submission for the Towcester Relief Road which was already fully financed.

“We have no idea why NCC did this,” said Mr Morris.

“We are constantly hearing that the pinch point is THE problem as if it is the only problem but we can assure you that it is only part of the problem, though an important part.

“We confirm that in just over a month we will be meeting with Dame Andrea to discuss a number of issues, one being the long delays which occur between asking important questions of WNC and getting meaningful responses and the other being the fact that Dft/National Highways have taken actions which worsen our situation and then ducking the responsibility for addressing those problems

"These actions include making the A422/A421 (along with NCC) into part of Strategic Freight Route Network; reclassifying the A422 into an MRN road; passing a law to increase the lengths of HGVs by two metres, and making the A422 through Farthinghoe into the official M40 diversion. It is not fit for that purpose.

"Added to this the streetl ighting is now being classified as not meeting national standards for an MRN highway.”

Mr Morris said: “It is high time the problems of the residents of Farthinghoe, along with the 12,000+ drivers who travel the A422 daily are treated properly and with some respect. There should be concerted discussion between WNC and the DfT rather than ignoring each other and passing the blame back and forth.”

Dame Andrea said in a statement: “Together with local residents, I have pursued a bypass for Farthinghoe ever since becoming an MP in 2010.

"I have had countless meetings with residents and even the local primary school to hear their views and make the case with them.

" A local referendum was held on a potential route for the bypass and work was done to cost it. At that point, to the great frustration of residents and myself, WNC Highways, over several meetings and rounds of discussion with myself and residents, concluded that the benefit/cost ratio of the bypass was less than one (ie. less than a pound's worth of value would come from every pound spent).

"That means that neither WNC highways nor central government will fund the bypass. This is a huge disappointment.

"Since then, I have been working with the community and the council to try to find a solution that will satisfy all parties. I am pleased to see that proposals have been made as alternatives to the bypass.

"I am meeting with community representatives in the next few weeks to discuss this case further, including how money freed up as result of the cancellation of the second phase of HS2 could be deployed to help Farthinghoe. I can assure the wider community that finding a solution for the Farthinghoe pinch point remains a top priority.”