Top firms raise fears about future development of Northampton
A NUMBER of top Northampton firms and organisations have raised concerns about plans showing how the town centre could be developed over the next 15 years.
Northampton Borough Council revealed an action plan for the town centre at the end of last year.
The document included proposals to create a new cultural hub close to the Royal & Derngate Theatres and a new leisure and recreation area between Bedford Road and the River Nene as well as plans to redevelop the Grosvenor Centre and demolish the Fishmarket to make way for new shops.
But latest documents published by the council show a number of top companies and organisations in the town have raised serious concerns about some of the proposals.
Among those who have raised issues are Carlsberg, Asda, Tesco, Northamptonshire Police, the Highways Agency, English Heritage and the owners of the Grosvenor Centre, Legal & General.
Carlsberg has criticised the council’s plans because they do not allow space for the expansion of its Northampton brewery, Tesco has said the Fishmarket should not be demolished to make way for new shops and English Heritage has expressed fears about developments near the Battle of Northampton site at Delapre Abbey.
The Grosvenor Centre’s owners, Legal & General, has also said the redevelopment of the town mall will not provide a new bus station as the document states, saying it will simply “facilitate the bus interchange” and the Highways Agency has said it hopes the plans will be altered to give buses priority on Northampton’s ring road.
Discussing the plans, Paul Lewin, the council’s planning policy and heritage manager, said: “The plan is essential to the future prosperity and planning of the centre of Northampton.
“It is pivotal in leading economic recovery of the county and a key contribution to the United Kingdom’s economy.”
Members of the council’s cabinet will discuss the responses to the action plan during a meeting at the Guildhall next week.
When the document has been finalised by the council, the plans will be submitted to the Government for final approval.
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Comments
There are 12 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Upton
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 08:25 PMThe building that houses the Carlsberg well is the last building at the Bridge Street end of Foundry Street.. When I was younger, I had the 'pleasure' of undertaking some maintainance work on the well, and I can tell you it's very deep and contains water from a natural underground river that runs under the bottom of Bridge Stteret..
madman2401
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 04:01 PMWe need out of town developement more than ever now otherwise we will have no where to shop when town centre loses all the shops one by one due to no customers
willi eckaslyke
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 03:39 PMNot so much concerned with the smell of Carlsberg in Northampton, as with the smell of Northampton in the Carlsberg
Porcupine
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:58 PMI love the smell of Carlsberg in the morning!
lady muck
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 01:54 PMCarlsberg actually use pumped water from a very deep well...it is quite close to the brewery. I suppose that some of this water might come from the river. Anyway, I rather like the brewery smell. If Carlsberg had to re-locate, there's no guarantee they would stay in Northampton.
poppiesforever
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 01:15 PMI think heshe is refering to the quite strong 'yeasty' smell that comes from the brewery some days,although i was surprised to find out the beer is produced using river water as stated by poster 6
lawndart
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 11:24 AMCommon sense, the brewery is sited next to the river for a reason. The brewing process requires vast amounts of water and any new premises would need the same supply capacity, which would be difficult to achieve. Leeds Brewery iswas sited by the Aire for the same reason.
willi eckaslyke
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 10:46 AMReg....perhaps the Highways Agency bigwigs travel everywhere by bus.
Reginald Molehusband
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 10:07 AMRing road? What ring road? And why are the anachronistic Highways Agency saying that buses should be given priority when bus subsidies are being cut and central government is ordering the scrapping of bus lanes in greater London? The borough council should tell the jobsworths at the Highways Agency to butt out.
TeddyMcnabb
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 09:29 AMMORE CONCERNS! http:tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com
Love Child
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 09:27 AMCommon Sense, you talk rubbish, Carlsberg is not smelly, many people like the smell of a brewery, expansion should be on same site, what is the point of a business operating on different sites, I would have a name chage if I was you
Common sense
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 08:08 AMCarlsberg just closed their Leeds Brewery which was much larger than their Northampton site on the basis of over capacity. There's plenty land available around Northampton should they wish to move their smelly business from the centre
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