Councillors criticise plans to sell off two of Northampton's iconic assets to developers

'Developers far too often seek to exploit our communities,' say councillors criticising plans to sell iconic assets owned by the council.

At the place overview and scrutiny committee held on Monday (January 31) at the Guildhall councillors Danielle Stone and Jamal Alwahabi voiced their concerns about The Black Lion Pub and Castle House.

The two sites were bought by the former Northampton Borough Council in a move that community groups hoped would protect the area’s heritage and ensure their usage benefits local residents.

However, it has since been confirmed that Castle House is being handed over to property developers and responsibility for the Black Lion Pub given to a national charity.

A Labour spokesman said residents are 'losing control over their own communities' with wards facing how their area is developed being decided by property developers.

The spokesman said: "The context in which the regeneration of an area can take place cannot be ignored, whilst Northampton is a vibrant and bustling area with culture and heritage, it also has problems and needs that need addressing such as increasing levels of poverty, substance abuse, environmental degradation, sexual exploitation and gang crime.

"Tackling those problems are not and should not be seen as separate to how a community is regenerated.

"A council-led development process has the ability and obligation to understand and plan with a local area about what sort of changes it would like to see. Whereas a market led development process is obligated to nothing but producing profit. "

Cllr Stone said developers 'often seek to exploit communities.'

She said: “These plans are not contextualised by reference to the area in which they are to sit.

"Castle has the most amazing heritage we have two amazing parks, the cultural quarter and significant buildings but we are also the site of increasingly violent crime, increasing sexual exploitation of women and girls, and county lines exploiting our youth- all linked to increasing poverty.

"Developers far too often seek to exploit our communities by buying up cheap property and turning them into poor, densely built houses of multiple occupancy (HiMO) or student flats, with residents that are only present during term-time.

"We need to complement the town centre regeneration with regard to all these issues."

Cllr. Jamal Alwahabi highlighted St Giles Street as an area of concern, saying the town is 'at risk' of losing its 'best' shopping street.

He said: “I will always welcome investment in the town centre and WNC led development, but we need to be doing a lot more to support the town centre now, to make it a clean, green and safe space that can attract shoppers and tourists, be they local or from outside the county.

"For example, St Giles street has won awards. It is known for its specialist boutique retail offer. Presently it has eight empty retail units. This means it is already under increasing pressure from developers who have no interest in maintaining the integrity and character of the area.

"We are risking losing our best and most prized shopping area because we have not built in enough protection from developer-led development and we are not investing enough, as a local authority, in our own projects."