Hampden Fields - Road Layout and Link Roads

This is part of a series of posts about Hampden Fields. In this post, I will outline the road layout and the plans to connect Hampden Fields to the Aylesbury Road Network.

The work to connect the Hampden Fields to the A413 is in progress. The photograph below shows half of the new roundabout on the A413 Wendover Road. The new roundabout is between the Bedgrove roundabout and the Hampden Hall roundabout on the Wendover road.

Roundabout to nowhere yet (From Buckinghamshire Council)

Aylesbury Link Road Plan

One of the main objections to new house building in Aylesbury is the traffic. In the past, large housing schemes such as Fairford Leys were built without significant upgrades of the road network. Inevitably a sharp increase in vehicle traffic. The road improvements are a long saga. This excerpt from Hansard (20 Mar 2007 Aylesbury Vale) shows David Liddington MP raising the issues with the Aylesbury road network.

Discussions on road improvements in Aylesbury date back to the 1980s. Several plans for major bypasses have been produced and abandoned. The latest plan is the link road system shown in the graphic below.

Aylesbury Link Road Plan (From Buckinghamshire Council)

The link road plan should solve some of the worst traffic bottlenecks once the following links are completed.

• South East Aylesbury Link Road and Southern Link Road (A41 to Lower Road)

• Stoke Mandeville Relief Road (Stoke Mandeville to the Wendover Bypass)

• South West Aylesbury Link Road (Stoke Mandeville to the A418 Oxford Road)

• Eastern Link Road (A41 to Kingsbrook)

Buckinghamshire Council has funding secured for the South East Aylesbury Link Road and construction has started. The Stoke Mandeville Relief Road is being built and funded by HS2.

South East Aylesbury Link Road

The South East Aylesbury Link Road comprises of

• A new roundabout on the A413 Wendover Road (between Hampden Hall and Bedgrove)

• A dual carriageway with a bridge across the railway line connecting the A413 and Lower Road

• A new roundabout on Lower Road near to the Belmore Centre

• A spur to connect to the Stoke Mandeville Relief Road and a new roundabout

The plan for the South East Aylesbury Link Road is shown below. Phase 1 and Phase 2 are under construction (March 2025). No date has been released for completion of the road but the road is likely to open in 2026.

Stoke Mandeville Relief Road

The Stoke Mandeville Relief Road bypasses Stoke Mandeville and links to the Princes Risborough road.

HS2 are building the road as part of the main HS2 civil works. The road is initially being used as a haul and access road for the HS2 works but will be turned over to Buckinghamshire Council once the HS2 work is complete. The Stoke Mandeville Relief Road comprises

• A new junction on the A4010 Risborough Road near the goat centre

• A single carriageway that crosses HS2 near to the Chiltern Line

• Connecting to Phase 2 of the South East Aylesbury Link Road and the new roundabout on Lower Road.

My only criticism of this scheme is that the bottleneck between the Terrick roundabout at the Wendover Bypass on Nash Lee Road is not fixed. Failing to use HS2 to fix the tangle of roads at Terrick is a big miss from the HS2 mitigation negotiations. I have heard rumours of a plan but I am yet to see anything made public.

Nash Lee road can be seen in the photo below. Cars are often (legally) parked on the left side of the photo all the way to the end of the houses. In peak times that causes traffic to queue in both directions. Nash Lee Road is an accident waiting to happen.

Hampden Fields Road Network

The Hampden Fields road network will consist of

• A new dual carriageway between the A413 Wendover Road and the A41 (Southern Link Road)

• A new road through Western neighbourhoods of Hampden Fields connecting the Southern Link Road and Marroway in Weston Turville

• Changes to New Road in Weston Turville to accommodate the Southern Link Road and the local centre in the Eastern neighbourhoods of Hampden Fields

The plan for the roads (taken from the design code document) is shown below.

Impact on Weston Turville

The plans understate the amount of change for residents of Weston Turville. This is my summary of the changes during construction and after construction.

• New Road will be temporarily severed between Weston Turville and the A41

• There will be no through road between Weston Turville and the A41 because New Road will be diverted around the new Hampden Fields local centre

• A new road junction on Marroway will connect to Hampden Fields and the Southern Link Road

Overall the changes to the road network will benefit Weston Turville in the long term by reducing the amount of through traffic. I have concerns about the impact of closing New Road on residents during construction because that cuts off a well used route out of the village.

I also do not like the proposed T-junction on Marroway. That junction will be heavily used by traffic coming from the Southern Link Road. The planners have not accounted for traffic diversion. A roundabout would be more appropriate than a T-junction because a roundabout would naturally slow traffic and improve circulation.

The location of the junction on Marroway is opposite the Pony Fields site. I can foresee significant changes to the Marroway junction in a future planning submission.

The location of the junction on Marroway can be seen in the photo below.

Progress to March 2025

The initial access to Hampden Fields West (the Wendover Road side) is open. Work has not started on the link road through Hampden Fields or the junction at the Tring road roundabout on the A41.

The roundabout on Lower Road is in an advanced state of progress. Work is planned at Easter and the May half term to complete the roundabout and associated changes to the road layout. See the SEALR bulletin for March for more details.

New Lower Road roundabout (From Buckinghamshire Council)