We are in April and the Highways England website has not changed. What is going on? The surveyors have come and gone and nothing posted. Rumours are now starting to fly that the chosen route will be the bottom one. That is the one that goes across the corner of the Tetworth Estate, round the top of Waresely and up through the valley between Eltisley and Waresley. Surely this cannot be right? This is the route that causes maximum environmental damage as well as the most inconvenience and disruption to the local population. It is, however, the route that avoids a lot of the land belonging to old established landowning families. What about Tetworth Hall, I hear you say! Well, the Tetworth Estate was bought by the Cook family some eight or nine years ago. They rapidly established themselves in the local community and have done a splendid job running the Estate, but they are “new”, so perhaps they don’t carry the same weight as others? Who knows! Also, there is a large free-range egg farm being built just north of Eltisley on the opposite side of the road to Orchard farm on the B1040 and is a substantial investment. The hen houses look good and they will have plenty of land on which to roam, so this is for the long term. There is, however, probably enough room to squeeze a new road between this new development and the existing A428. I am not an engineer but going by the amount of space being used by the new A14 development it looks tight to me.
So we will have to wait and see…. how much longer, who knows!