Plans for housing at University of Northampton campus look set for approval

The University is still using the campus, on St George’s Avenue, but most of the new campus now resides at Waterside. Pans have been in the pipeline since 2016 to utilise the Avenue site for new housing, and next week looks like it might clear the last major hurdle.

Members of Northampton Borough Council’s planning committee will meet on Tuesday (October 27) and decide the application – which is effectively formed of two different forms of application.

The first will see a decision made on a full application to partially demolish the Maidwell building on the site. It would see the Northern and Southern wings of the square building – which fronts St George’s Avenue and was built in 1932 – demolished, while the West and East wings of the building would be converted into 26 apartments. There would also be new ‘infill’ terraces between the retained parts of the building that would offer an extra 32 residential units in two five-storey terraces.

The second part of the scheme is for an outline application for the demolition and conversion of existing buildings and the erection of new buildings to provide 112 new residential units. The outline application effectively requests permission to develop the land for this kind of purpose. If approved, a further ‘reserved matters’ application would be submitted later down the line detailing the design of the new units. It is understood though that they are likely to be a mix of houses and two to four-storey high apartments.

The existing road access to the east of the Maidwell Building would be widened to allow two-way traffic with a footway to one side and a shared cycleway and footway to the other side. In addition, a new road access with footways to both sides would be formed to the centre of the site running through the demolished parts of the Maidwell Building and adjacent to the new ‘infill’ terraces.

This latest application from the University sees the number of homes reduced from 200 in an earlier version of the scheme to 170 in this latest plan. Ward councillor Jane Birch wrote in her submission: “This reduction from 200 will have a less adverse impact on the traffic along St George’s Avenue which has concerned local residents since the original proposals came forward.”

But planning approval looks set to come with a number of conditions, including contributions from the University towards primary school education, highway signal improvements on nearby junctions, and a payment towards healthcare facilities.

The latter issue appears particularly important, with Nene Clinical Commissioning Group & NHS England both writing to the council to say that local facilities will not be able to absorb the new residents.

Their joint submission states: “Practices in the local area are already at the limit of their capacity and the increase in population could push practices to the point that they are no longer able to accept new patients. If this were to be the case it could result in the population brought to the area by the new housing development experiencing difficulties accessing primary care health services.

“Therefore, the Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England are seeking a financial contribution towards infrastructure to ensure the new population has access to good quality primary health care services.”

Other organisations including Sport England and the county council’s flood authority, who had objected to the initial application, have seen their concerns addressed in the latest application.

Detailing their recommendation for councillors to approve the scheme, borough council officers write: “The application site is sustainably located, and the proposal would reuse a largely vacant brownfield site and secure a viable use for the retained parts of the locally listed Maidwell Building and the retention of the treed wildlife area to the west of the site.

“Furthermore, it would make a significant contribution to the council’s five-year housing land supply through the provision of up to 170 dwellings with associated social and economic benefits.

“In addition, the application site would support the relocation of the University to the Waterside Campus, with the capital receipts from the sales of Avenue Campus contributing to relocation costs, and thus would indirectly assist with the regeneration of Northampton Town Centre and the Enterprise Zone.”

Committee members will make the decision next Tuesday, just one day before final offers will be considered by the University for the purchase of the 15.6 acre site, which has been listed for offers on the Rightmove website.