During most of August, Rushden’s town centre has been a nightmare for motorists.
The main road through the Town has been closed (see attached photo). That alone would have caused chaos, but it was only one of multiple main routes that have been blocked:
- Higham Road (most of month)
- John Clark Way (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
- High Street (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
- Station Approach (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
- Station Road (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
- Shirley Road (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
- Park Road (3rd Aug to 4th Sept)
- Harborough Road (3rd Aug to 4th Sept)
- Wymington Road (part of month)
- Newton Road (passable, but with long delays plus 29th Aug closed near library)
- Irthlingborough Bridge (extended to 29th August)
- Wellingborough Road (beginning of month)
- Bedford Road (17th Aug to 18th Aug)
- Grove Road (6th Aug)
- Northampton Road (6th Aug)
- Avenue Road (7th Aug)
Effectively, the centre of the Town was completely inaccessible for road users for almost the whole of August. This may well have encouraged shoppers to go elsewhere. Hopefully, they will eventually return, but that is not guaranteed.
It is not clear what the impact will have been on the turnover of the Town’s shops. However, every cloud has a silver lining.
Some motorists will prefer to shop online to avoid the chaos. There will therefore be a reduction in footfall in the Town Centre.
This in turn will give us a clue as to how much Town Centre trade will be lost, if Reform-led North Northants Council goes ahead with its plan to charge for parking.
