Plans for 217 homes on abandoned Northampton 'wasteland' deferred

Plans for hundreds of new homes to be built on brownfield land in the centre of Northampton have been pushed back due to concerns raised over potential traffic issues and suffering local facilities.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) deferred its decision on 217 houses to the north of Ransome Road, Far Cotton, yesterday (May 21). The grounds have been left abandoned since the Northampton to Peterborough Branch Railway closed in the 1970s and a former landfill on the site was cleared.

The applicants, Tilia Homes, promised a mix of two to four-bed homes in a range of dwellings, including 24 affordable apartments. Green open space and a play park were also proposed within this parcel to the south of the residential area.

The site will be entirely accessed from Ransome Road which contains residential housing and leads on to an industrial area further along the lane.

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Maxine Thornton spoke on behalf of Wrefords Transport, and other commercial businesses along Ransome Road to raise their objections. She contended that the impact on traffic in the area would be much greater than the suggested 1,050 extra movements per day.

She said that the issue they had was not with the provision of houses, but that it was "purely the access" leading her objection.

Previous plans for the development that were approved in 2004, but never materialised, suggested cars could enter through Bedford Road, now called University Drive. Plans state that this access route is no longer possible due to the road now being privately owned by the University of Northampton.

Cllr Julie Davenport (Independent, Delapre and Rushmere) said: "For the last seven years I've been chasing to find out what will happen to the area we call 'the wasteland' in Ransome Road.

"Residents do want something to happen with the land as the area attracts, fly-tipping, dumping of cars and anti-social behaviour. It's a mess.

"It now raises great concerns and as the plan stands it will have a huge negative impact on residents and on the highways."

All properties would have their own off-street parking, with 454 allocated parking spaces for residents. Blueprints also show 52 visitor parking spaces along the residential streets and 15 more along Ransome Road.

Representative for Tilia Homes, Richard West said: "The proposals seek to regenerate a redundant, contaminated brownfield site in a highly sustainable location close to the town centre.

"There is significant benefit in delivering much-needed housing in such a location in addition to the excellent open space proposals.

"This proposal represents a fantastic opportunity to finally bring forward a 12-hectare site of disused and derelict land which has been subject to a long-running, multi-million-pound programme to facilitate its regeneration."

Another concern was raised with the viability of the site and the knock-on effect it would have on local facilities such as doctors, schools and dentists that are already under immense pressure. Due to the brownfield nature of the site including contamination, the developers have suffered abnormal costs to remediate the land, before construction has even started.

Despite multiple requests for funds, the project would not be able to make any contributions to libraries, healthcare and education due to its viability issues.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage said: "We have a real problem that if it doesn't even generate any money towards actually physically delivering a dentist, a doctors, another school, how on earth are those children and families going to be looked after?"

The planning committee resolved to defer the application to look into potential traffic regulation orders (TROs) that could help to mitigate and alleviate some concerns around the increased vehicle movements along the road. The plans will go back to committee for the final decision.