Decision due on major housing development
Officials from Towcester were due today to decide today if almost 800 new houses should be built on the outskirts of Northampton.
Members of South Northamptonshire Council were due to discuss whether up to 781 houses and a new country park should be built at Upton Lodge, close to both Harpole and the Princess Marina Hospital.
The decision will be made by councillors from the south of the county because, as with Grange Park, the land is technically in South Northamptonshire, despite being right on the edge of Northampton.
In a report to be seen by members of the authority during their meeting at the council's Towcester headquarters at 11am, council planning officer, Michael Warren, suggested they should support the development because it was part of a wider scheme which would see more houses built around the Upton Lodge area.
He said: "The application is considered to be in a sustainable location as it forms part of, and would complement, a larger development proposal within Northampton borough.
"It would also provide for a strong and potentially more-permanent 'green wedge' in the form of a country park.
"It would also have less of an impact on existing communities than some of those developments currently being considered in some South Northants villages."
Wider plans for the Upton Lodge site would also see a further 1,784 houses built on land which is classed as being in Northampton.
Plans for the 1,784 houses were backed by the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) in November 2008, despite people who live close to the site suggesting the land was so poor anything which was built on it would be in danger of collapsing.
In the 2008 decision, the WNDC also backed plans to build a new primary school, a number of new businesses and a park and ride facility on the site.
If both housing plans were now allowed to go ahead, the total number of new homes to be built in the Upton Lodge area would be up to 2,565.
The developers behind both schemes - the Government's Homes and Communities Agency and builders Redrow Homes - said any new homes which were built on the Upton Lodge site would be of a similar design to those in the award-winning Upton village, which is nearby.
A full report of South Northamptonshire Council's decision on the plans will be in tomorrow's Chron.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Vow to crack down on anti-social behaviour across Northampton’s eastern district
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
