Completion date for road diversion in Morpeth put back again

Works are being carried out on a road off the A197 which runs to newly-built homes on the Saint George estate in Morpeth and the St George’s Park mental health hospital.

As a result, traffic is being diverted via Cottingwood Lane as a private road that follows from the top of the lane by King Edward VI School (KEVI) to the hospital site has been opened up.

They started last September and residents were told they would last for a minimum of 14 weeks. But there have been a number of delays since then and whilst the most recent newsletter to the residents of Saint Georges Wood from developer Countryside Partnerships details the amount of work that has been carried out in recent weeks, it also says the ‘revised end re-opening date is June 14’.

James Elliott, representing the residents, said: “The residents of Saint Georges Wood are extremely disappointed that Countryside Partnerships has been unable to meet the long-awaited completion date of April 24 to re-open the road to the A197 down the hill, which was originally promised by the developer.

“And Morpeth residents can expect a great deal of further disruption as further works are undertaken on the road south of the NHS centre and on the A197, even after our redeveloped access road is opened to resident traffic.

“Extensive drainage works are required south of the NHS centre to the River Wansbeck, which will necessitate extensive road works and associated traffic controls.

“Even when the road up the hill is re-opened, it is highly likely that the diversion route past Saint George's Park Hospital and KEVI will still be used, further disrupting the lives of residents on Cottingwood Lane and increasing the risk posed to KEVI students and staff.

“All of these works should have been completed prior to a single house being built at Saint Georges Wood and we (as a group of residents) hold Northumberland County Council, its senior officers and its elected councillors, responsible for the mess that has been created by their total lack of strategic planning and oversight.”

A Countryside Partnerships North East spokesperson said: “It is regrettable that due to a number of additional issues, the re-opening of the road at Saint Georges Wood will be further delayed.

“The main reasons for this are: delays with utility services provision; the discovery of a multitude of unchartered services, which necessitated hand digging; the need for a full depth reconstruction of the road right up to the junction with the A197 and some very poor weather conditions.

“As promised, we have maintained communication with residents through a newsletter and on-site meetings with resident group representatives.

“We would like to assure those affected that we are doing everything possible to complete the works to the highest standard as quickly as possible – including working an additional 1,620 man hours of overtime during February and March alone.

“Once again, we thank residents for their patience as the works move toward a conclusion.”

A county council spokesperson said: “We are well aware of the on-going issues in this area and have been liaising closely with the contractor over the past few months to try and ensure work was completed on time and to a high standard.

“We sympathise with everyone who has faced long-term disruption in this area and are very disappointed that the essential work to upgrade the access route and increase the capacity of the drainage systems serving the St Georges site has taken several months rather than the few weeks initially forecast by the developer.

“We are meeting with the developer this week for an urgent update on progress and to further explore how they can mitigate impacts on residents and road users during the essential works.

“The need to upgrade the access road and drainage was a planning requirement and although was agreed at the time by our highways development management team, the contractors have experienced unforeseen complications which have significantly delayed their programme, requiring a longer diversion to be in place than expected.”