Residents living close to the A1 Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire have been having their say on a new dual carriageway linking Milton Keynes and Cambridge.
They attended the consultation event and exhibition at the Stuart Memorial Hall in Tempsford.
Biggleswade town councillor Madeline Russell said: “At strategic level, I can understand it impacts on some individuals and that they will be really unhappy.
“But I am really pleased the government has chosen this three-tier scheme for the Black Cat.
“I think it’s by far the best, hugely expensive, but it will really do the job for us. So I am thrilled.
“It was certainly the best of the three options they put forward in the previous consultation.
“I didn’t think they would go for it. It is an engineering challenge. It is so near to the river.
“They’ve got to make sure the A1 doesn’t flood going underneath the rest of the roads,” she added.
“But if they can do it, and they’re talking about it being open in 2025/26, I think that’s brilliant and we’ll just have to put up with all the upheaval while they do it.
“The only thing that aggravates me is that this will be the third alteration of the Black Cat in a fairly short period of time.
“And I think it’s a shame the last time they did what they did, which was no solution at all really.
“It’s never worked properly. But this hasn’t got traffic lights. It separates all three levels. I think it is brilliant.
“The other issue with this and the East West Rail link we’re going to get a heck of a lot of development in east Bedfordshire.
“We need the government to keep putting this kind of money in for it to be the best it can be because we’re going to lose an awful lot of green space in this area.”
Her husband, Archie, said: “I am talking as an architect, not a highways engineer. It is generally fatal to go for the low cost solution, whatever you’re doing.
“You’ve got to do the job properly, otherwise forget it. And I think this looks a brilliant scheme.
“It will do what it needs to do to serve the area in the coming years because there’s going to be teriffic growth.
“If the main routes north, south, east and west work efficiently then that’s to everyone’s advantage.”
Gary Lee, from Sandy, was seeing the information for the second time and described it as “comprehensive”.
As far as the Black Cat junction is concerned, he said: “I think it’s what residents have been looking for.
“I came here and asked what extra traffic is going to build up at the Sandy roundabout.
“But I was told by the guys doing the traffic modelling that won’t be a problem.
“So I have made an arrangement to meet the traffic modellers at the back of my house to see.
“It is what it is,” he added. “It’s a huge construction. It looks like it will do the business.
“Having seen the work they have done on the A14, it’s the fuss and bother which is going to come with the roadworks.
“Once it’s up and running people just get used to driving on it.”
Mark Hansard, from Brampton, said: “I think the road network is going to be brilliant, with the ease of getting from A to B without having loads of roundabouts and hold-ups. That will be superb.
“As for how it affects the residents it all depends on ease of access, so it will be interesting to see the slip-roads and the signage.
“That needs to be quite paramount in my opinion. The ease of getting somewhere has got to be beneficial for the economy.
“Unfortunately that does come at a cost, and if sometimes that is the environment it depends what level.
“It’s going to effect it in some way, but hopefully not that much to have a lasting impact.”
Clair Slade, from St Neots, said: “Talking to an ecologist, the route they have taken is pretty much farmland anyway.
“So they’re not too concerned about nature and wildlife and what they’re going to be ploughing through to.
“That’s the most important bit. This is going to effect people’s daily commute.
“So as long as we’re all kept notified if there’s going to be extended roadworks, or if something’s delayed, I can’t see there being a problem because it’s going to be worth it in the end.
“We’ve got the capacity in St Neots. We’re the largest town in Cambridgeshire.
“Getting that on the map, getting the signage, and letting people know we’re there, I can’t see it being a problem at all.
“That’s where the industry will probably realise in between Oxford and Cambridge there are these great towns where you’ve got a workforce waiting.”
Willington parish councillor Jan Lewandowski said: “We are already concerned about HGVs using the A603 coming through the village.
“And we’re just wondering when this goes into construction how that will impact on getting from point A to point B, so it’s the broader aspect that we want to talk about.
“It’s to alert people at this early stage to start thinking about it in the broad sense.
“The lorries are just taking this alternative route. Whether they follow their sat-navs, or take it upon themselves to do that we just don’t know.
“We need to do a traffic census maybe. We just have to hope.
“Black Cat as it stands now is pretty hopeless. It’s a shame.
“Since we’ve lived in Willington, that was under construction when we moved in, and it’s not come up with the goods, so something has to happen.”
Her husband, Joe, said: “The other thing is how what they’re trying to do links in with the new railway route coming through.
“One of the possible routes is between Willington and Moggerhanger.
“So how they’re going to build that (road) and then three years later builld a railway line through it?
“It’s going to need some good planning. They said they’re talking to each other, and I hope they are. It’s not always the case they do.
“If you have two different pots of money, two different teams working on it, hopefully they’ve learned their lesson from previous contracts and will do that joint planning, even though there’s a three-year time gap in what they’re doing.
“The volume of traffic has massively increased,” he added. “Every time they build a new distribution depot there’s more traffic coming our way.
“And 86 per cent of the traffic going through our village speeds because the police have done checks on it.
“It’s finding a way of balancing that out. You can’t say: ‘No, you can’t come’.
“On the other hand, it needs sensible good driving and not killing someone in the process.”
Janet Ball, from Great Barford, said: “The exhibition was very informative. It provided information in a variety of ways, so you could see it in 3D and also in 2D. The scale is amazing.
“I think most people would come along with a viewpoint of how it is likely to effect them and their area, and that was our concern.
“We have to grit our teeth for some local inconvenience probably over quite a long period to get something that will be a huge improvement locally.”
Her husband, Ian, said: “I can’t understand why they can’t start doing it until 2021.
“It’s as the Mayor of Bedford said: ‘The money is there. Why has it got to take two years to even get started?’
“That’s a good point. Why don’t we just get on with it now?”
Graham Smith, from Luton, is considering moving to the Roxton area and said: “When it’s all done in 2026 I think that will be a big asset.
“When they get this flow through for the underpass and the other route for Cambridge, there should be minimal disruption really.”
The consultation event will be in Roxton Village Hall on Thursday 18th July from 12pm to 8pm.
SOURCE: Highways England A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvement scheme public consultation event at Tempsford.
