Plan to create 3,000 jobs near truck stop set for approval by Northampton councillors

The site is off junction 16 of the M1 and includes land currently occupied by the Red Lion truck stop.

Officers at Northampton Borough Council, which is a consultee, have recommended that councillors lodge no objection to the plan when it is discussed next Tuesday.

Stephen Boyes, director of planning at the Guildhall, has written a report saying the scheme could boost employment significantly.

He says: “Documentation submitted with the application indicates that over 3,000 jobs would be created by the development, which would be of economic benefit to the borough and the surrounding area.”

The site is south of the A4500 Weedon Road and north of the motorway. Borough council documents say the site is currently farmland, with the Red lion Truck Stop “occupying part of the site adjacent to the A4500.”

Six major buildings are proposed for the site, which could be used for storage and distribution, offices and general industry.

A 20,000 square metre lorry park is also in the scheme, which will be decided by South Northamptonshire Council planning committee.

Access from the A4500 would have to be reconfigured, the proposals say, with two new roundabouts constructed and the watercourse.

Since the plan was first mooted earlier this year, hundreds of residents have complained about the loss of floodplain and damaged to views of the countryside.

Jayne Fuller, from nearby Bugbrooke, said: “No new buildings should go up until all empty ones within a 20 mile distance have been used and, as there are many of these [within a short distance] of other M1 junctions, it is silly to build more.”