Major highways projects and investment

A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

The A43 between Northampton and Kettering suffers from congestion hotspots, journey time delay and road safety issues due to vehicles trying to overtake. To tackle these problems, it is proposed to dual sections of the A43. Due to the scale of the scheme this will be achieved in phases.

Phases

The first sections to be improved are in West Northamptonshire:

• Improvements to the Round Spinney roundabout (phase 1a) were completed in 2015 - these resulted in increased capacity at this junction and improved traffic flow
• Phase 2 was a dualling of the section north of the Moulton roundabout to a new junction near Overstone Grange - this was opened to traffic in early 2018
• Phase 1b was fully opened for traffic in June 2020 - this provided a new road between the Round Spinney and Moulton roundabouts bypassing the existing road

Phase 3 is a joint project between North and West Northamptonshire Councils intended to extend the dualling to the Holcot and Sywell roundabout. A bid for Government funding towards this phase was submitted in 2016 but was not successful.

Bidding

A bid for Major Road Network funding to construct this section was submitted in August 2019 and a Strategic Outline Business Case has been submitted to support this.

In July 2025, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that the Phase 3 dualling was one of a number of schemes nationally which were to be reviewed to determine if they could still be funded.

Public consultation

Consultation and examination hearings for the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy highlighted the view of the local community. Improvements to the A43, among other measures, are necessary to support the proposed development at Northampton North.

Scheme cost and funding

Phase 3 will cost in excess of £23m.

This section will be updated as the scheme progresses.

Last updated 31 October 2025