Committee members of the SJRA attended a reconvened meeting organised by County Councillor Suresh Patel to discuss traffic issues in the area, which were attended by Councillors, Residents Association, Police, Saints management and other bodies. This is the first meeting to take place in over a year and focuses on mainly matchday parking but also other contributory factors as well. The main item of good news is that the Saints will be paying for some more match day traffic management next season for most of the games. More details on this will be available after the fixture list is revealed. Now the Claret car park is to be opened regularly, this will be a useful tool in helping to alleviate traffic and parking problems in the area. It cannot hope to eliminate them all together, and thanks are due to the Saints for stumping up the cash to do this, and for being seen as part of the solution instead of the problem. As many people realise, it is not just the Saints who create traffic problems, the Weedon Road is saturated with traffic most days of the week and particularly on Saturdays as everyone goes shopping. The SJRA has repeated its calls for both ends of St. James Mill Road to be connected to create a through route which would alleviate traffic using St. Peters way and St. James Road. It is staggering that after visiting the Northampton Alive exhibition recently, that the information provided did not include St. James Mill Road being connected, as a key transport strategy for Northampton, mind boggling and short sighted, particularly with the dawn of the much trumpeted Enterprise Zone! The SJRA has also requested from the County Council an electronic traffic information sign to be placed on Westbridge that would advice motorists of congestion in the area and to seek alternative routes, namely via Edgar Mobbs Way. The traffic meeting is due to reconvene in August.
