Plans to build a Burger King, Costa Coffee and 24/7 BP petrol station next to Northampton housing estate set for refusal

Plans to open a Burger King, Costa Coffee and a BP petrol station next to a brand new housing estate on the edge of Northampton are set to be refused.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) planning officers have recommended that proposals for a new local centre on land at the corner of Sywell Road and Kettering Road (A43) are refused at a planning committee meeting on Monday (October 17).

The proposals were submitted earlier this year by Peveril Securities Ltd to build a local centre as part of the Overstone Leys 'sustainable urban extension', which will be home to thousands of people once complete.

The plans proposed provision for a 24/7 BP petrol station with convenience store, Costa Coffee and Burger King (both with drive-thru lanes), retail units, 119 parking spaces, an employment unit, a nursery, and another 21 parking spaces.

However, residents, councillors and parish councils have objected to the plans in force - and it seems their efforts have paid off.

Moulton Parish Council, which got 234 signatures on its petition against the plans, said: "The original intention was the development should be a retail centre with convenience stores. The proposed development has been transformed into a service area for passing traffic."

Overstone Parish Council said: "[The] proposal would result in a mainly concrete and macadam surfaced area serving 24/7 passing vehicles on the A43 with no space for a village green or local community functions."

Fifty-five residents objected to the plans in an initial consultation exercise, all objecting to the application on the following issues: highway safety, proposed uses, sustainability.

One resident said: "It appears that the original consent provided for the genuine needs of the community such as a desperately needed medical centre have been replaced with an unwanted petrol filling station purely for commercial gain."

Another said: "This is not the local centre we were promised. There is no medical centre, pub, village green. This is another small retail outlet."

One resident said the increase in speeding traffic in the area would make crossing the A43 a “veritable death trap”.

Conservative councillor Mike Warren, who objected to the plans, added: "By allowing the fast food outlets you will be encouraging pupils from the new school on Thorpeville to cross back and forth the new dual carriageway to access these outlets, fatalities will occur."

WNC planning officers explained why the plans have been recommended for refusal.

An officer said: "The concerns raised by local residents and the parish council in relation to the proposed uses are noted. The petrol filling station and the two drive thru food units are not considered to be of an appropriate scale in keeping with a local centre.

"It is not considered that the proposal is of an appropriate scale to the sustainable urban extension and it does not meet the definition of a local centre."

A brand new Aldi store opened in Sywell Road, Overstone Leys on Thursday, February 17 this year as part of the continued development in that area.

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