Northampton community centre's expansion approved by councillors

The community centre is currently used for a number of local groups and activities including a local playschool. The works that will now take place will improve the facilities by offering a separate hall, which will allow more than one activity to take place at any one time.

The £250,000 project was given the go ahead by Northampton Borough Council’s planning committee on Tuesday evening (April 16).

Rectory Farm Residents' Association chairman Toby Birch had urged the committee to support the extension of the building.

He said: “I would like to thank the borough council for its support so far. This project has been a regular item on the agenda for our discussion. This can be a real successful partnership between borough councillors, officers, the community and our charity.

"It's fully booked seven days a week, and we can't accommodate all the requests to use it."

The redevelopment will include a single-storey extension within the courtyard to create the new hall. It also includes the addition of both toilets and a store in the existing hall, and an outside play area being created in the courtyard.

Ward councillor James Hill also backed the application, saying: "We've been working on this for years. It will be a massive improvement on what we have currently."

Planning committee member Councillor Jamie Lane said he welcomed the application, before proposing it be approved. This was unanimously agreed by the committee.

The centre is located within the remaining farm building previously associated with Rectory Farm. It appears to have been associated with the Walker family of whom Joseph Walker was Rector of Great Billing Parish for many years until his death circa 1899. The former farmhouse is now disused, and is currently unused and boarded up.