Traffic
A modest estimate of commercial vehicles using the development is up to 3000 vehicles per day. Access is proposed by a turn off the A508. Traffic will be increased along the roads radiating from this junction and onto Deanshanger, Buckingham, Potterspury, Towcester, Yardley Gobion, Grafton Regis and Roade. This will cause further delays at peak hours. Traffic from Castlethorpe, Hanslope and Haversham will also be affected. For vehicles turning right into the site there will be a central lane capable of holding five lorries. There have been fatalities turning on and off the A508.
Heading from the A5, the proposed junction will be before the Dogsmouth Brook at Cosgrove: this is only 300m from the roundabout and, at times, will cause tailbacks to the already congested junction. Local residents will know that it can take only one HGV at busy times to completely block the Old Stratford roundabout, so this development could risk complete gridlock at the roundabout at peak times.
In the Local Plan, WNC stipulated a roundabout access to the development. In order to fit in the enormous Unit 1, the developers have moved the access point further away from the A5 Old Stratford roundabout and changed it to a T junction with a ghost island. (per latest developer submission in February 2025), seemingly allowing HGVs to turn left or right out of the development site. The decision to abandon the roundabout is apparently driven by the developer’s desire to include an oversized Unit 1. They clearly do not value the importance of investing in appropriate road infrastructure to support a highly profitable development. That sort of short-term profit-driven approach to design is unacceptable and risks creating long term traffic problems for the local residents.
No road widening is proposed and the slip road is integrated into the current road width, mirroring the existing Cosgrove turnings. However, the traffic consultant that was engaged by Old Stratford PCC has concluded that the road would need to be widened by 2 metres and also that a 116m long access ramp would be needed for safe approach to the A508 juntion from the site. The central lane will be capable of holding five lorries. Traffic will still back up to the roundabout. There have been fatalities turning on and off the A508. Safe access to and from the site should not be compromised to accommodate a larger unit.
In their original survey the developer (with WNC agreement) used misleading traffic data, collected in March 2022 at a point 7+ miles away, when Cosgrove Park was closed and traffic was still in Covid recovery. Data should have been collected in the vicinity of the site and collected across a year. Cosgrove Parish Council have data to prove traffic movements when Cosgrove Park is open are much higher than during the closed season. A police speed data survey outside the Quarries Scout Camp on Stratford Road recorded 13,601 vehicles between 12 and 20 June 2023. It appears that they have now taken measurements and journey marker locations on the A422, A5 north & south and A508 adjacent to the site. However, the Developers have submitted an 851-page traffic report, which is too complex for us to review ourselves, hence Old Stratford PCC engaged a specialist traffic consultant to examine these issues. He estimated that the developers have underestimated HGV movements by 93%.
In addition to the commercial vehicles, there will be increased traffic from employees accessing and departing from the site. The new Traffic Assessment encourages sustainable transport as the objective and to encourage alternative transport, suggests that Old Stratford is an acceptable distance to the site for walking and cycling. Frampton's have requested to upgrade the footpath at Oxfield Park Drive complete with street lights. It is also suggested that employees from Milton Keynes could use the canal towpath to get to and from work at the site. They suggest there is a bus stop on Stratford Road 350m from site with bus service with access to 86, 89 and 90 services. These services were all cancelled some time ago. While these access routes exist, the traffic consultant concluded that these proposals are not, in practice, going to be sufficient to mitigate the huge increase in personal journeys and he estimates that there will be 47% more light vehicles in peak hours than the developers suggest.
The Northampton Gateway development at Junction 15 of the M1 stipulates that to avoid adding more load onto the A508, all HGVs must turn north when leaving the site, except when an official diversion is in place. In such a situation, all those HGVs will be coming south to join the HGVs entering and leaving the Furtho site. Further land has been approved to increase size of the Gateway development at junction 15, adding further heavy traffic to the A508.
The latest Transport Assessment concludes that the impact of the development on local and Strategic Road Network (SRN) routes and its associated traffic will not have an impact on the overall operation of the junction and actually predicts a negative growth in traffic. Despite little or no consideration for other proposed developments in the area, WNC are evidently 'content' that there will be no impact on the SRN routes and it has been agreed with the council to assess the junction and provide mitigation measures in 2031!
The report by Railtron, commissioned by Old Stratford PC in October 2025, along with an earlier review of the original Traffic Assessment by Velocity, dated 2023, can both be found
here.
Traffic
A modest estimate of commercial vehicles using the development is up to 3000 vehicles per day. Access is proposed by a turn off the A508. Traffic will be increased along the roads radiating from this junction and onto Deanshanger, Buckingham, Potterspury, Towcester, Yardley Gobion, Grafton Regis and Roade. This will cause further delays at peak hours. Traffic from Castlethorpe, Hanslope and Haversham will also be affected. For vehicles turning right into the site there will be a central lane capable of holding five lorries. There have been fatalities turning on and off the A508.
Heading from the A5, the proposed junction will be before the Dogsmouth Brook at Cosgrove: this is only 300m from the roundabout and, at times, will cause tailbacks to the already congested junction. Local residents will know that it can take only one HGV at busy times to completely block the Old Stratford roundabout, so this development could risk complete gridlock at the roundabout at peak times.
In the Local Plan, WNC stipulated a roundabout access to the development. In order to fit in the enormous Unit 1, the developers have moved the access point further away from the A5 Old Stratford roundabout and changed it to a T junction with a ghost island. (per latest developer submission in February 2025), seemingly allowing HGVs to turn left or right out of the development site. The decision to abandon the roundabout is apparently driven by the developer’s desire to include an oversized Unit 1. They clearly do not value the importance of investing in appropriate road infrastructure to support a highly profitable development. That sort of short-term profit-driven approach to design is unacceptable and risks creating long term traffic problems for the local residents.
No road widening is proposed and the slip road is integrated into the current road width, mirroring the existing Cosgrove turnings. However, the traffic consultant that was engaged by Old Stratford PCC has concluded that the road would need to be widened by 2 metres and also that a 116m long access ramp would be needed for safe approach to the A508 juntion from the site. The central lane will be capable of holding five lorries. Traffic will still back up to the roundabout. There have been fatalities turning on and off the A508. Safe access to and from the site should not be compromised to accommodate a larger unit.
In their original survey the developer (with WNC agreement) used misleading traffic data, collected in March 2022 at a point 7+ miles away, when Cosgrove Park was closed and traffic was still in Covid recovery. Data should have been collected in the vicinity of the site and collected across a year. Cosgrove Parish Council have data to prove traffic movements when Cosgrove Park is open are much higher than during the closed season. A police speed data survey outside the Quarries Scout Camp on Stratford Road recorded 13,601 vehicles between 12 and 20 June 2023. It appears that they have now taken measurements and journey marker locations on the A422, A5 north & south and A508 adjacent to the site. However, the Developers have submitted an 851-page traffic report, which is too complex for us to review ourselves, hence Old Stratford PCC engaged a specialist traffic consultant to examine these issues. He estimated that the developers have underestimated HGV movements by 93%.
In addition to the commercial vehicles, there will be increased traffic from employees accessing and departing from the site. The new Traffic Assessment encourages sustainable transport as the objective and to encourage alternative transport, suggests that Old Stratford is an acceptable distance to the site for walking and cycling. Frampton's have requested to upgrade the footpath at Oxfield Park Drive complete with street lights. It is also suggested that employees from Milton Keynes could use the canal towpath to get to and from work at the site. They suggest there is a bus stop on Stratford Road 350m from site with bus service with access to 86, 89 and 90 services. These services were all cancelled some time ago. While these access routes exist, the traffic consultant concluded that these proposals are not, in practice, going to be sufficient to mitigate the huge increase in personal journeys and he estimates that there will be 47% more light vehicles in peak hours than the developers suggest.
The Northampton Gateway development at Junction 15 of the M1 stipulates that to avoid adding more load onto the A508, all HGVs must turn north when leaving the site, except when an official diversion is in place. In such a situation, all those HGVs will be coming south to join the HGVs entering and leaving the Furtho site. Further land has been approved to increase size of the Gateway development at junction 15, adding further heavy traffic to the A508.
The latest Transport Assessment concludes that the impact of the development on local and Strategic Road Network (SRN) routes and its associated traffic will not have an impact on the overall operation of the junction and actually predicts a negative growth in traffic. Despite little or no consideration for other proposed developments in the area, WNC are evidently 'content' that there will be no impact on the SRN routes and it has been agreed with the council to assess the junction and provide mitigation measures in 2031!
The report by Railtron, commissioned by Old Stratford PC in October 2025, along with an earlier review of the original Traffic Assessment by Velocity, dated 2023, can both be found
here.
“...a place where people are proud to live, with strong sustainable communities, decent homes, a fulfilling job, and stress free travel through well connected places”
WNC Vision Statement
“ A review of trip generation rates reveals that the proposed development could generate up to 93% more HGVs and 47% more light vehicles in the peak hours than has been assumed. ”
Bruce Bamber
BSc MA MSc MCIHT Railton TPC Ltd, Oct 2025
“The roundabout is already over its practical reserve capacity in the AM peak (6.7%) and is almost over capacity in the PM peak”
Highways England
(date redacted)
“ Overall it is concluded that the proposed development risks severe cumulative impact on the external highway network, an impact that would be further exacerbated by the site’s poor sustainable accessibility and the under-estimation of the site’s trip generation.”
Bruce Bamber
BSc MA MSc MCIHT Railton TPC Ltd, Oct 2025
Traffic - Reasons to Object
- Traffic increases have been under-estimated - a review reveals that the proposed development could generate up to 93% more HGVs and 47% more light vehicles in the peak hours than has been assumed. Old Stratford roundabout is already 7% over capacity at peak periods.
- Poor accessibility by sustainable modes will lead to an increase in car trips. There is no current bus service and while one is proposed, it will only be subsidised for 2 years.
- Not compliant with Local Plan AL5 - this requires a roundabout to be created for site access, which the proposal no longer includes.
- Junction proposal creates safety risk. Modelling shows delays of up to 2 minutes, creating safety risk from frustrated driver behaviour, who would pull out when unsafe to do so.
- A508 road requires widening by 2m to create a safe filter lane, and significant earthworks are required to level the junction, feasibility of which the applicant has failed to demonstrate.
- Wrong location - The site’s location is not consistent with the South East Midland Local Economic Partnership’s study that recommends locating major warehousing sites within 5km of high-quality strategic routes and with access to rail. This site is 15km from the M1 (junction 15).
- There is little or no consideration from the planners or the council regarding traffic generated by other allocations in the area and their impact on the development.
