MP Brian Binley challenged to town centre debate
Liberal Democrats at Northampton Borough Council have challenged a local MP to a public debate on the future of the town centre.
Senior Lib Dems on the council were angered by comments made by Brian Binley, the Tory MP for Northampton South, in his programme notes for recent Saints and Cobblers matches.
In a recent article for the Cobblers v Aldershot match, Mr Binley accused the borough council of being "hell bent on doing all it can to hinder both the Cobblers and the Saints from fulfilling their ambitious plans for a successful future".
His attack followed the council's opposition to plans to build a new shopping centre at Sixfields, and a supermarket as part of plans to redevelop part of Franklin's Gardens.
He wrote: "This from an organisation whose planning department has, in many ways, been responsible for the demise of the town centre over the last 40 years.
"The borough council has driven local small businesses out of the town centre.
"Indeed, it has made it almost impossible for small retailers to set up and operate there."
At a meeting of the full council on Monday night, Lib Dem councillors hit back at the MP's claims, inviting him to take part in a public debate of the matter before the General Election.
A letter was then emailed to Mr Binley's officer by the ruling Lib Dem group offering the debate, which could take place in front of up to 100 people in March.
Councillor Richard Church (Lib Dem, Kingsthorpe), who wrote the letter, said the council was opposed to a town "dominated by a handful of large shopping chains".
He said: "I would ask him to have a debate about the kind of place we want Northampton to be.
"Do we want it to be the type of place where you have to go out of town to impersonal shopping centres or do we want a town centre with a heart?
"That is the choice and that is the debate I would like to have with Brian Binley."
In response, Mr Binley said he would be "absolutely delighted" to take part in a public debate.
He said: "I am very unhappy about councils of all political hues, which have done more to drive business and people out of town centres over the last 40 years than anything else.
"We've got high car parking charges, we have yellow lines all over, we have high rents and rates and we have small businesses with nowhere to operate."
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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