Stuck in the middle of ‘pass the parcel’
The residents of Whitehills & Spring Park (WASPRA) feel they are in a “pass the parcel” situation between Daventry District Council, Northamptonshire County Council and Ensign, the potential developers of 1,050 houses on Buckton Fields.
After Daventry planners rejected the initial application on July 20 on the grounds of traffic and other social issues, they reversed that decision and accepted the application on October 20 based on a contracted traffic consultant stating all the mitigation works offered in the Developers Traffic Assessments were robust. For those present at the October 20 meeting the issue of being taken to appeal by the developers, if the application was rejected again, was clearly the major factor for accepting and the 180 degree turn around.
WASPRA have at council meetings raised questions about the traffic assessments. For example the predicted (modelled) traffic queue for 2021 at the junction of Boughton Green Road and the Harborough Road (opposite the Frog & Fiddler) is 517 vehicles in the peak pm period. This predicted queue would stretch for miles past a college, a university and a school out through Moulton Park.
The traffic assessment author’s comment was this was unlikely to happen as drivers would take alternative routes (rat runs) through residential estates. This is not a sustainable or an acceptable solution.
Park and ride is on the developer’s plans to persuade drivers to leave their cars at home. We have always questioned the uptake of park and ride as a practical solution for Northampton, especially the 24/7 safety and security management of an open space in a residential area.
After informal meetings with Daventry and Northamptonshire Highways it would appear that as the traffic assessments and traffic consultant’s views were commissioned by Daventry, the NCC Highways take no responsibility, no ownership nor wish to comment on those assessments. Yet Daventry say all traffic and highways issues are now the responsibility of NCC Highways. In other words “pass the parcel”.
What do WASPRA currently seek?
An up to date (2012) Traffic Assessment with less modelling and more field studies.
An acknowledgement that flooding is still a major unresolved issue for Northampton.
An answer to the question “Is there a committed plan for a school building on Buckton Fields?”
An answer to the question “Is there a committed plan for Park & Ride site management 24/7?”
As neither Daventry District Council, Northamptonshire County Council nor the developers have engaged on these issues with a major stakeholder i.e. local residents, we appeal for help from any quarter.
Angela Bartlett,
Secretary, WASPRA.
Plant trees for the jubilee
REGARDING the present idea of people planting a tree to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee, what about planting a tree here in our own town of Northampton?
I am sure many old Northamptonians would welcome the chance of planting a tree to commemorate someone, with either a book at the archives or a small metal plate at each tree.
The two major parks here are Abington and the Racecourse but as Abington has enough trees I suggest the Racecourse. What about a row of trees along St Georges Avenue to make that lovely walk a triple avenue? Perhaps we could get volunteers to help and each tree planter pay a small charge, say £5, to help towards the cost?
Have any other readers any further suggestions?
Mrs E Butlin,
Wantage Road, Northampton.
Start a tax on plastic bags
AS a stallholder on Northampton market I’m fed up hearing ‘I want a plastic bag’ every time anyone buys anything, even if it is only a lemon. Some want a plastic bag if they haven’t bought anything.
Some stores like M&S have made a real effort to discourage plastic bags, but Tesco and other supermarkets seem to have moved in the opposite direction. Not long ago they’d ask if you really wanted one in Sainsburys, now they are back to handing them out with everything.
The horror is where do these bags go? Where do they end up? Certainly they must be harming the environment. They should put a tax on selling, using and giving them away, like in Ireland, where plastic bag use has gone down by about 90 per cent.
I would dearly love to see the back of the things. People could then go back to carrying proper shopping bags about again, as they did years ago.
Our local MP Michael Ellis supports my plastic bags campaign, but it is a shame that national government is not yet committed to a tax on plastic carrier bags.
Apparently a plastic bag is not only for life, it is for the next 1,000 years before it completely degrades. The horror of it!
Eamonn ‘Fitzy’ Fitzpatrick,
Ridgeway, Northampton.
Start looking on the bright side
RECENTLY in ViewPoint it seems to be everyone against the closure of the bus station. Are these the same people who complained about leaking roofs, lifts out of order, dirty underpasses, no access to toilets (which appears to be not fit for purpose).
Is Legal & General demanding demolition before extension of the Grosvenor goes ahead? The previous NBC councillors never released details of the plan for extension due to confidentiality.
The town has to go ahead. People trying to run it down are unelected former councillors.
For Pete’s sake Northampton, get together, don’t look on the bleak side, look at Eric Idle’s song from the Life of Brian – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
Cliff Lott,
Cameron Crescent,
St James, Northampton.
A waste of time
YOUR Thursday writer’s piece about the brown containers to collect food waste in, I agree with all she says about same. I cannot see what anyone can do with rotting apples, and going off orange peel. In my view neither any good for anything useful. Plus it starts to smell too. Bad enough for someone like me living alone. I dread to think what it must be like for a family of four, more so in summer. I agree with her view on the council deciding they are a waste of time, hopefully before summer arrives.
Gordon Bray,
Queen’s Crescent,
Kingsthorpe, Northampton.
Where to buy
Re the new recycling bins, I am writing to advise that to buy the inner bags for them, the place I bought them from was Wilkinson’s in the town centre, under the name of compostable kitchen caddy liners, under the heading “The Green Sack.”
A E Francis,
Eastern Avenue North,
Northampton.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
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tish
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 02:12 PMWhere was WASPRA when we were fighting plans to build 400 student bedsits in Bective Road, luckily common sense prevailed and they were denied permission last week, however to my knowledge there were no traffic concerns from WASPRA though the traffic implications for the Harborough Road would have been just as bad. Kingsthorpe is Kingsthorpe whether one lives in a very posh village with a nice view or a little terraced house
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