Bid to honour Timken workers falls through
PLANS to build a permanent monument to the thousands of people who worked at the Timken factory in Duston have fallen through.
As part of a development of 480 houses on the former Northampton industrial site, plans had been made to build a monument to the company and its former workers.
But the scheme has been dropped after the Nene Foundation, a charity set up by Timken, pulled out and housing developers Bellway Homes decided not to follow it up.
Bellway Homes spokesman Julian Kenyan said the development would instead be given an artistic feel with the careful use of such things as benches, lampposts and landscaping.
He said: "Artwork will be integrated throughout the development, but what shape and form it will take at this stage is too early to say.
"It will probably be with street furniture and soft landscaping."
But during a meeting of Northampton Borough Council's planning committee on Wednesday, councillor John Yates (Lib Dem, Boughton Green) said a permanent monument to Timken should be central to the development.
He said: "I really think there should be some public art. Something like a giant ball-bearing to reflect what Timken did for the town, because a lot of people worked there."
The Timken factory in Duston opened in 1942 and employed more than 4,000 people at its height.
The American company announced plans to close the site in 2001 and the last workers left the factory in 2002.
Work to clear the site and build houses, offices and sports facilities is now well underway.
Councillor Liz Tavener (Con, Old Duston) has followed the progression of the development since Timken announced their plans to leave Duston.
But she said she did not believe a statue was necessary to mark the former company.
She said: "I'm more interested in the sports facilities we're going to get down there than a lasting memorial.
"They should be what we remember the company by rather than a statue or a bench."
The Nene Foundation was unavailable for comment.
wayne.bontoft@northantsnews.co.uk
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