Green light for further 120 homes on outskirts of Northampton despite flooding concerns

Plans for 120 homes on the outskirts of Northampton have been approved despite concerns raised about flooding.

The homes will be built in between Duston, on the Western edge of Northampton, and the nearby village of Harpole, as part of the wider Norwood Farm Strategic Urban Extension. The scheme will also incorporate open amenity space, a local equipped play area and a neighbourhood park for the area.

The development has already received outline planning permission for 1,900 homes in total, subject to further reserved matters applications before the building of individual parcels can begin. Housing developers Vistry Homes Ltd will be in charge of the latest addition to the project.

Joney Ramirez, a principal planner at Rural Planning Services (RPS) speaking on behalf of the applicant said: “This phase of Norwood farm will bring a number of benefits to the public in the way of high-quality housing in an area of high demand, affordable housing in line with the agreed levels and open and play spaces for everyone to use.”

The neighbourhood will comprise a mixture of one to five-bedroom homes, as well as 18 homes marketed at affordable and social rent. This will total 15 percent of affordable housing for the estate which is below the requirements in the county’s core housing strategy, but was agreed upon due to viability concerns for the entire project.

Panel members voiced their worries over the low levels of affordable homes being placed together in a “cluster” and possible issues with water drainage in the surrounding area.

Councillor Ann Addison (Cons, Bugbrooke) said: “Flooding is a very big issue in part of my ward. The more concrete you build on that very steep slope that it’s being built on it’s flooding Kislingbury in particular.

“We have had three major floods recently - it just has to drop a bit of rain and the village is flooded. Frankly, I don’t like the concrete and I don’t like one of my villages flooding.”

Another councillor for the Bugbrooke ward, Adam Brown (Cons), also attended the meeting to stress his concerns about the flooding. He said that the perception of people living in the surrounding area was that since the urban extension had started construction the flooding had been “significantly worse than in the past”.

The Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) advised that insufficient information had been submitted to demonstrate that the water drainage scheme for the development would manage flood risks. As the LLFA maintains its objection the applicant will have to seek approval for their drainage scheme and strategy conditions before any building can start.

West Northamptonshire Council approved the new phase of developments in a meeting on Tuesday, March 19.