"Provide a great infrastructure and a smart working environment for businesses to operate and for people and services to access and move around, safely and effectively"
Winter Gritting
Prior to 2011, the only winter gritting performed on the estate was on those roads identified by Northamptonshire County Council as at risk.
The BID has entered into a contract with Kier WSP to ensure all roads on the estate are gritted when temperatures are set to fall below zero. Roads on the estate are also gritted when there is a high confidence of snowfall.
Please click here to learn what extra routes are covered on the estate
Did you know - Over 50 applications have been performed annually since 2010/2011 with the most in 2012/2013 with 140 applications.
Street Inspections
The BID team undertake regular patrols of the estate to report issues to our partners at Northamptonshire County Council and Northampton Borough Council. These local authorities, are responsible for undertaking statutory works on the highways on the estate.
The issues reported can include pot holes, over grown shrubbery, litter or damaged road surfaces or signage.
New projects being explored by the BID in 2019-2024
Alternative Traffic Calming
In the previous ten years of the BID from 2009-2019, two phases of traffic calming improvements were completed on the industrial estate in 2012 and 2014. £590,000 has been invested to reduce the number of speed humps present throughout the estate and the works included introducing chicanes and removing humps.
Humps still exist on Salthouse Road, Gowerton Road and Kilvey Road so the BID is working with the Northamptonshire County Council to explore if measures could be taken to remove or replace them with alternative traffic calming solutions if it safe to do so.
Improving condition of verges and footpaths on the estate
Traffic volume and the placement of grass verges alongside the estates roads and pavements makes the estate a green place to visit, but occasionally vehicles will drive on to verges or roundabouts. The estate is lobbying Northamptonshire County Council to repair the impacted locations so that the estate continues to have a smart environment for businesses.
Transport Congestion and Access – Buses and alternative travel modes
One of the biggest challenges for businesses on the estate is road access on and off the estate with around 13,000 people working on the estate at present. Traffic congestion at peak times remains a top priority for 76% of businesses on the estate surveyed in 2018.
Buses: In the last 10 years the BID has worked with local bus companies and Northamptonshire County Council, to secure £470,000 of investment for new bus services to and from the estate. New Saturday services now run through the estate, new services also visit the estate to service key-shift change hours and routes have been extended to take bus passengers to Wellingborough and via Wootton and Grange Park to the town centre. The BID has also invested in new bus flags on the Gowerton Road loop and are continuing to explore opportunities to make bus travel on the estate more attractive.
The BID is continuing to lobby Northamptonshire County Council and the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership, for capital investment funds for new roads on the estate and are exploring opportunities for the disused railway line that runs between the estate and the town centre near Carlsberg.
Flood Prevention on the estate
In May 2018 the BID area experienced a flood that impacted more than half a dozen businesses on the estate. In August 2019 a full report was published by contractors of Northamptonshire County Council.
The BID is now working with the local authorities and appropriate agencies to ensure the risk of ground flooding in the area is managed and minimised where-ever possible through a series of mitigating measures including setting up an Emergency Planning group, flood prevention planning, flood wardens and additional incident response and business communication tools and support for disaster recovery.