Campaigners march through town to protest against homes
People from villages across Northamptonshire flooded Northampton town centre to protest against proposals for massive new housing developments.
Well in excess of 200 people followed tractors in yesterday's march from Becket's Park to the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit's (JPU) headquarters in Bedford Road.
Among those highlighting their opposition to the JPU's expansion plans, which suggest more than 40,000 new houses could be built in the area over the next 15 to 20 years, were schoolchildren and people in their 80s.
At the front of the march, pushing a wheelbarrow full of questionnaires showing residents' opposition to the plans, was Quinton villager Ian O'Mara, aged 29.
He said: "We're really concerned about the size of the developments they're proposing.
"They don't even include plans for things like a new hospital and we're afraid developments of the size they're suggesting would simply destroy the villages."
The JPU, which is made up of members of Northampton Borough Council, South Northamptonshire Council and Daventry District Council, published its plans in June this year after the Government said the county needed to build thousands of new houses because of the pressure for new homes both in Northamptonshire and the south-east of England.
Seven-year-old Alex Chorley, from Piddington, took part in the march with his mum, Julie.
He said: "These new houses would be very near our house, there'd be nowhere left to play and all the bushes would be gone. I wouldn't like it."
Possibly the oldest person on the march was 84-year-old William Bain, who travelled all the way from Dunblane in Scotland to support his family in the protest.
He said: "These plans would destroy good agricultural land and, with all the houses they're planning, you've got to ask where would all these people work?"
Other people in the march claimed the housing plans would destroy Northamptonshire's villages and could even damage Northampton itself, by encouraging more people to bypass the town and shop in Milton Keynes.
As well as the hundreds of residents who took part in the march, there were also a number of members of South Northamptonshire Council and Northampton Borough Council as well as the Conservative MP for Northampton South, Brian Binley.
He said the show of force would be felt both by the JPU and the Government, adding: "I'm astounded by the number of people who turned out, especially on a working day.
"It's a tremendous display of people's feelings and shows they think the Government's plans, which the JPU are following, are totally unacceptable."
The JPU's plans suggest 18,000 homes could be built on land between Grange Park, Wootton and Little Houghton, an extra 5,663 could be built between Moulton and Overstone, 2,200 could be built on the edge of Collingtree, 6,900 on the edge of Duston, more than 5,300 houses around Daventry and almost 5,000 in South Northamptonshire.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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