It would consist of a five-star hotel, a number of restaurants, shops, cafes and offices.
It sounds like a new town centre when the old town centre is crumbling, with empty retail units, restaurants and cafes closing down due to lack of business. The rest are struggling to remain solvent. The development of the Grosvenor centre has been indefinitely shelved and the Peacock Arcade has half its retail units empty.
What a financial disaster this town would have suffered had the bus station been demolished.
During the past 10 years, Northampton town centre has suffered an enormous culture change, nurtured and administrated by the various local councillors and their respective parties . . . a culture of pubs, clubs, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
Northampton must be the worst-run county town in England.
The shopping public have abandoned the town centre. The retail sector is at its lowest ebb in living memory, yet the already exorbitant parking costs are on the increase. If the council is not very careful we will very soon become a ghost town.
The Labour administration introduced the on street parking and ever since there has been a steady decline in the town centre retail sector.
To think of developing and spending millions of pound of public money on a new culture area in this particular economic climate is lunacy.
It would be interesting to know who would be interested in taking on such a venture when the town centre restaurants, shops, and cafes are already struggling.
If it is such a good scheme, let the private sector investors and developers risk their own millions on what could be a white elephant and accept a market price for the land to revamp the bus station etc for the Northampton public in general.
R Dunstall,
St Giles Street, Northampton.

Paying off debt Labour left us
Readers may recall that Labour Councillor Les Patterson is the ex-finance guru of the last Labour administration at County Hall.
That administration, chucked out in May 2005, tried to increase council tax at one point by a staggering 14 per cent.
Les has got his name in the paper trying to comment on the level of borrowing by this administration. I thought it might be useful to return the favour by listing the progressing of Labour's borrowing from the moment they were elected in 1993 to the moment they were thrown out.
The figures will speak for themselves but I would just point out that the debt they accumulated needs to be paid for and they left us with that delight.
Les Patterson should not try and lecture anyone about borrowing; he's already cost us all too much!
£million
1993-94 154
1994-95 148
1995-96 148
1996-97 164
1997-98 170
1998-99 191
1999-00 199
2000-01 216
2001-02 241
2002-03 270
2003-04 268
2004-05 300
Councillor Patterson may also want to explain to residents why the Labour Party could not be bothered presenting a budget of their own this year.
Could it be they now recognise the complete financial mess they left behind and have no sensible or deliverable answers?
Councillor Bill Parker,
Cabinet Member for Finance and Business Support, Northamptonshire County Council.

Give some credit where it's due
I write in connection with Councillor Varnsverry's letter about teamwork and the MP Brian Binley's efforts to keep open all the post offices that were threatened with closure in his constituency.
Good teamwork consists of giving credit to all those who have contributed to the success of the team. In the case of the Gloucester Avenue Post Office, as with the post offices in Weston Favell and Regent's Square, it is Brian Binley who has led the effort from start to finish.
An unfortunate, but nevertheless recognisable, characteristic of Liberal Democrat publications is to claim credit for other people's efforts. This is nothing new. And the publication referred to in Delapre is true to form: it makes no reference to Brian Binley's lobbying of Royal Mail management and the many meetings he has attended and, indeed, called throughout Northampton South.
I hope the Liberal Democrats may change the habits of a lifetime by giving political opponents the credit and the recognition they deserve. But I am not holding my breath!
Mike Pepper,
Southfield Road, Duston, Northampton.

Shop around and save cash
My wife and I live in the eastern district of Northampton, where statistically there are fewer car drivers than other more affluent areas of Northampton.
That means people have to use taxis to get their grocery home, if doing a weekly shop, and the black cabs do a roaring trade. A journey home is about £6 or more, adding to the food bill.
Tesco at Weston Favell, our local shopping centre, has a virtual monopoly on grocery shopping, apart from Lidl. My wife finds it is cheaper to go to Iceland, spend at least £25 and get a free home delivery. Lidl is cheaper than Tesco, Morrisons is cheaper than Tesco, so it really pays to shop around.
To avoid expensive taxi journeys, buy less and buy more often, then use the buses.
We get fruit off Northampton Market; it's much cheaper, but has to be fetched in smaller quantities because of weight of produce and foot journeys. It is well worth looking at farmers' markets around the county if you have a car. Consider using public transport. Try own brands, some of them are alright.
Jim O'Rourke,
Pindar Rise, Thorplands Brook, Northampton.

Stop messing with our park
I feel compelled to write as I am so angered by what is currently happening on Northampton's Racecourse.
Who are these "Friends of The Racecourse" who think they can decide what happens to a public park without bothering to consult the public?
They have kept their plans secret and not even given the public a chance to look at them before they have gone wading in making changes.
And why is Northampton Borough Council supporting them? I can see no difference between this and The Needle dispute with WNDC.
I live close to the park and use it regularly and would love to air my thoughts on how it can be tidied up without altering it entirely. It needs a few tweaks but at the end of the day it is not Abington Park and nor should it aspire to be.
It is a lovely, wide-open space used for sport and it should be kept as it is.
I urge local residents to question what is happening and voice their opinions, rather than let one or two people mess with our park.
Rebecca Smith,
Burns Streets, The Mounts, Northampton.