Concern at new housing proposal
MAJOR housing expansion plans for Northampton have raised serious concerns among officials at Northamptonshire County Council.
In January, the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit (JPU) published plans showing where 11,000 new houses could be built around the edges of Northampton by 2026.
The plans were met with immediate concern by anti-expansion campaigners in the town and now officials from the county council have also expressed concern.
In documents presented to the council, officials have warned plans to build 1,000 new houses at Collingtree are ‘poorly located’ and said plans to build a further 1,500 in an area of land off Sandy Lane in New Duston could be ‘better built elsewhere’.
The view has been backed by council cabinet member, Councillor Ben Smith (Con, Greens Norton).
Explaining the need for any developments to be backed by critical new infrastructure such as roads, schools and shops, he said: “We certainly must have infrastructure and if we don’t have guarantees on a way forward, we’ll say ‘this is not acceptable’, it’s really as simple as that.
“Because these plans are not just about building houses, they’re about creating communities.
“So it’s all about things like medical facilities, roads and open spaces and that must be the way forwards if we’re going to have this growth.”
The leader of the opposition on the county council, Councillor Brendan Glynane (Lib Dem, Delapre) backed the calls for improved infrastructure as part of the expansion plans and pointed out improvements would also have to be made to the A43 between Kettering and Northampton.
He said: “Unless there are improvements to the A43, I can see the villages of Moulton and Overstone are going to get really jammed up if the expansion plans around there go ahead.
“There won’t be any traffic able to come down the roads at all, they’ll be that full of cars.”
Details of the JPU’s housing expansion plans are available on the organisation’s website, www.westnorthamp tonshirejpu.org and members of the public can comment on them until the end of the month.
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
lady muck
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 10:16 AMDamocles...but the empty houses are in places few want to live...inner city Liverpool for instance (a city that has lost half it's population in the last 50 years).
Damocles
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 08:18 AMBuilding nasty modern estates over the Shire counties was John Prescott's plan as Labour minister. Why don't our paid officials get it ? Labour Lost . They are not in power. Their policies should not be being pressed on with. Are they all closet socialists ? And before anyone starts saying there is a housing shortage its not true. There are over 23m dwellings in the UK and only 21m households. Far too many properties stand empty. Houses are ludicrously expensive because of the bank created asset bubble. But house prices are falling - and have a long way to fall- hardly evidence of a shortage.
HOS
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 08:51 PMThe council probably believe that more houses will mean more people shopping in the town centre. This is where they go badly wrong. Its not a numbers game, as soon as any new Northampton residents see the town centre, they will do like everyone else does and go elsewhere to shop.
Shalom
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 04:43 PMYes, we will need out of town centre shopping development if these housing schemes are to work, Sorry lib-Dem's, that is just how it is.
poppiesforever
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 12:45 PMOf course they will stick them near council estates as usual,and they will be full of foriegners who keep locals with low skills out of jobs
lady muck
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 12:04 PMI have lived in Northampton for many years and have a nice house myself. More housing is a terrible prospect for Northampton. The town should be closed to outsiders. Who knows what these new arrivals will be like ? They will be different from us......I could go on......
HOS
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 11:57 AMThe council had best start allowing some out of town centre retail development then?
HOS
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 11:56 AMThe council had best start allowing some out of town centre retail development then?
Common sense
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 10:14 AMThe Pre Submission Joint Core Stratey is a document produced by South Northants, daventry and the Borough Councils TOGETHER with the County Council--it is approved and agreed by all of them. why do parochial politicians always feel the need to comment adversly when all the population of Northampton town and County want is for them to get on with life and make theings better. If there is a lack of infrastructure you have to ask if the County Council can save nearly £70m had they not wasted that money over the years how much better the infrastructure should be. The plan being talked about rund from 2001 to 2026 and here we are in 2011 and its still not agreed- half way through. This is the real problem for Northamptonshire-our parochial politicians have no spine and focus on re-election and not the well being of the Town and County, The problem identified in this article reflect the ineptitude of the Councillors involved.
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