The Group was formed following a Public Meeting held in Offord Village Hall on Friday 22nd April 2005 in response to the publication of the Highways Agency’s Consultation Document for the A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton scheme proposal. The public who attended that meeting voted overwhelmingly to resist the current proposals and a Committee was formed to take forward the objections of the residents of the Offords.

Our initial objective was to get the road back along the original route proposed by the CHUMMS report in 2002, i.e. back to the North of Offord Hill. We also aimed to persuade the Highways Agency to hold a public exhibition in the Offords.

The Highways Agency brought their ‘bendy bus’ to the Village in May 2005 where they were greeted by a large but peaceful demonstration.  We also undertook a large letter writing campaign to protest against the route and over 300 letters were delivered from us to the Highways Agency.

More public meetings were held on 21st June 2005 and 30th November 2005and it was agreed that we should raise funds for a legal challenge in the High Court. Proceedings for Judicial Review were started in August 2005 and eventually settled in September 2006 on the basis that the Highways Agency would carry out a further consultation on a number of route options including the original CHUMMS route north of Offord Hill. To read about the legal case see (link).

The Further Consultation took place between December 2006 and March 2007 and this time the Highways Agency held an exhibition in Offord Village Hall. I the light of the further consultation we changed our Objective as follows:

To work with the Highways Agency, other affected communities and Local Authorities to identify and agree a route for the off line section of the A14 between Ellington and Fen Drayton that has the least overall detrimental effect on local communities whilst preserving the natural environment to the fullest extent possible.

The Group were active in lobbying for the Brown Route and attended a number of exhibitions in other villages in order to get our message across. We also attended Huntingdonshire District Council meeting to explain why we felt the Brown Route offered the best alternative of the routes on offer, not just for the Offords but for all affected communities.

Whilst we are disappointed with the eventual outcome of the consultation we are bloodied but not bowed!