Bylines readers will be glad to hear that Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen was wrong when he told BBC radio listeners last month that Darlington Borough Council (DBC) had decided on the route of the town’s hoped-for Northern Link Road.
Houchen brushed aside a phone-in question about progress towards choosing the route by saying:
“Darlington Council have already decided where that road is going to go.”
This came as a surprise to many, not least Darlington Council’s deputy leader Chris McEwan, who told an inquisitive Bylines reporter:
“I am not aware that decision has been made.”
Another senior local government source was blunter, saying:
“The mayor is talking out of his a***!”
No decision has been made on the link road
Baron Houchen had told the radio questioner:
“Darlington Council, a number of months ago, adopted and approved at their full council meeting a masterplan … which included many houses being built in north Darlington and that masterplan actually shows and is approved by Darlington Council the Northern Link Road that goes through that development.”
It doesn’t. The masterplan for Skerningham Garden Village shows a road, all right, but it’s a ‘distributor’ road to link the various parts of the village with each other, to local shops, the community centre, and other amenities.
Clarification from Darlington Councillors
The truth emerged at last week’s Darlington Council Cabinet meeting when the leader of the Greens, Councillor Matthew Snedker, asked the Council’s leader, Labour’s Stephen Harker, if he would be kind enough to clear up the confusion caused by the Tees Valley Mayor when he told BBC Radio that DBC had “signed-off on” a decision to route the Northern Link Road south of Skerningham Woods. Cllr Harker said he would be delighted to do so. And so he did, saying:
“I was as shocked as Cllr Snedker when I heard what Lord Houchen had said to the BBC. There was no decision on the link route at council or cabinet. I don’t know why he said what he said and I’m more than happy to set minds at rest.”
Cllr Snedker told Bylines:
“The purposes of the two roads are quite different. One is a proposal to link the A1 and the A66 that scores very badly on value for money, but could divert some HGV traffic from other roads in the north of the town. The other is to provide a sense of community by linking small pockets of housing with local amenities, with safe crossing points and regard for wildlife as well as children living and playing in the countryside.
“We need to make it absolutely clear to people who are confused by the mayor’s false statement that DBC has NOT made a decision to combine the two roads. It would put garden village children and local wildlife at risk from fast-moving traffic. He should admit his mistake and apologise.”
Cllr Harker’s confirmation that the bypass will not be combined with the village road, despite Baron Houchen’s statement, will be no comfort to garden village developers Theakston Estates Ltd. The Government has given Baron Houchen £250 million to pay for the bypass so combining it with the village road would have saved Theakston millions. Further information; Darlington Borough Council Transport Plan 2022 – 2030
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