DCSIMG

May 6: Saints must have been given support


Published on Wednesday 6 May 2009 11:20

I am a Saints supporter and I wish the club every success in every way. It is an asset to Northampton and long may it thrive.

I also want to see other sport clubs in the town thrive and succeed, especially the Cobblers.

However, I am amazed at the latest proposal to develop Franklin's Gardens off the back of the construction of yet another out-of-town supermarket.

Development proposals such as those published in Friday's Chron don't get to being published with the confidence displayed by both Asda and Keith Barwell without there have being some behind-the-scenes discussions with planners.

Just what discussions have taken place behind closed doors between Asda, the Saints and planners at both WNDC and the borough council? Such proposals don't get as far as this one has without the knowledge of senior councillors and members of the board of WNDC.

To get to this stage, that must have involved considerable financial investment and I would have thought several people in senior positions within the town must have given the proposal a "green light". It would seem that nobody has indicated that such a development is a non starter!

Have those individuals been open with the community they are supposed to serve? Those who should know about the proposal have made no report to the council about it, although they have the opportunity to report such things at every council meeting.

If a major supermarket and stadium proposal can be brought to this stage in the vicinity and for the benefit of Franklin's Gardens, why can't the same be done in the vicinity of Sixfields for the benefit of the Cobblers' stadium?

There has been a strong desire among many of us to develop in the Sixfields area to benefit the development of the stadium there for many years.

Yet every obstacle possible has been put in the way of any such development by landowners and developers interested only in benefiting themselves, working with the support and backing of the faceless bureaucrats in the planning and legal departments at Northampton Borough Council, WNDC and elsewhere.

We are told that Sixfields cannot be developed on a piecemeal basis and that development can only proceed there if it is in accordance with a development plan for the whole area, if not for the town as a whole, agreed after lengthy consultation with all interested parties and the community.

Similarly, no development can take place at Sixfields unless it can be guaranteed not to have any adverse impact on our town centre. Consequently no plans to develop in Sixfields have been forthcoming as to produce any without the knowledge of the development plan for the area would be pointless.

How is it then that a proposal for a major supermarket development in the vicinity of the Saints can get to the stage it has without being compliant with a development plan? Surely such a development would somehow affect our town centre?

This latest Asda/Saints proposal, whatever we personally feel about it, raises a lot of questions and concerns about the planning process in Northampton.

These must be answered by those accountable, especially those involved in getting the proposal to the stage it has reached.

Councillor Phil Larratt, Conservative, East Hunsbury Ward, Northampton Borough Council

Decision must be fair and impartial

I cannot understand the comments I've seen implying a superstore at Franklin's Gardens will comply with the development plan for the town centre.

Customers will drive to the store, fill their cars with groceries and drive home. There will be no benefit to the regeneration of the town centre.

It is true that the Cobblers have not had a planning application refused, this is because in preliminary discussions they have been left in no doubt that their application would fail.

Presumably the Saints have had similar discussions and, as they intend to submit an application, we must presume they have received favourable feedback.

In a situation like this, it is important that not only is any decision fair and impartial but that it is seen to be so.

With the well documented inter-relationships between the Saints, Keith Barwell and the WNDC, the appointment of an independent adjudicator is essential if the town is not to be subjected to further scrutiny and ridicule.

How many more times can the town shoot itself in the foot before it is crippled beyond recovery?

Jon Murray, Connegar Leys, Blisworth

Let's have a pool

MY wife and I were discussing the Sixfields-Saints debate. My wife suggests that instead of a retail outlet, why not go down the road of a very good leisure centre?

My thought would be to include a large leisure pool of an irregular shape possibly with a gentle wave machine.

There is no way that would take trade away from the town centre and I would suspect that people would come from out of town as they do for the ski centre at MK.

It would make the whole area of Sixfields leisure-based. I can see no way that the current council could object to this idea.

John Canning, Main Road, Duston, Northampton

Chairman's luck

regarding a message from Northampton Saints in Saturday's Chron, is Asda just a supermarket which won't damage any other businesses?

So then, Sainsbury's and Aldi have nothing to worry about, as both are within a stone's throw of both the Saints and Cobblers. And even Tesco is not too far out for people to get to.

I don't think it is the Saints' fault completely, but the club's chairman does seem to have more luck when it comes to developing his ground.

Nicky Sarti, Martel Close, St Giles Park, Northampton


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