Northampton Liberal Democrats Forum

[bert]

Dear Mr Church,
I have highlighted your response as why development at Sixfields would be bad for the town centre yet I am staggered that this proposal at the saints seems like it may be ok. Aparently Asda wich sells everything under the sun won't be selling anything available in the town centre. Absolute rubbish. Let's all fear the evils of a Garden Centre at Sixfields but welcome Asda.
I would happily have both but this sort of publicity just makes any planning decisions look dodgy. Answers are needed and a public statement.




richard.church wrote:
It would be nice to be popular, and say 'yes' to anything the football club may want at Sixfields, but I don't think future generations of Northamptonians would thank us for it.

Business experts commissioned by the council have confirmed that significant additional out-of-town retail in Northampton would damage the future vitality of the town centre and damage any chance of realising the regeneration we all want to see. These studies form a convincing evidence-based case that support our current stance on Sixfields. If we give up on the town centre for out of town shopping to get short term popularity, we give up on a town with a heart.

Statements that the council will cease to work on a masterplan for Sixfields, that we have said no to a garden centre or that there will be no development until 2026 are just plain wrong. We have made absolutely clear that we will continue to work with the football club and those who have property interests in Sixfields to develop a masterplan that conforms with planning policies for the area and for the whole town. That could mean a whole range of commercial, leisure or residential opportunities. The football club have been told that the council will willingly enter into discussions with them if they wish to submit a planning application, and they are of course free to submit an application at any time they chose.

If we were to allow out of town retail development at Sixfields contrary to government policy to protect town centre retailing and contray to all the evidence there would be many other developers who would put forward alternative sites. Such an imprudent decision could be challenged. Allowing out of centre retail development at Sixfields offers no guarantee of any development gain for the football club but puts at real risk the whole future of the town centre.

In the current economic climate major development at Sixfields that would deliver anything for the football club or for athletics pitch beside it is extremely unlikely. That is not the council's fault, it's just a fact of life of the recession. It might not be popular to say ‘no’ today, but the Liberal Democrats were elected to the Guildhall to tell the truth. And tell the truth is what we have done.

Cllr. Richard Church
Cabinet member for Planning & Regeneration
Northampton Borough Council

[richard.church]

Bert,
The Council will treat a planning application from the Saints in exactly the same way as it would treat an application (if it ever received one) from the Cobblers. The issues relating to the impact of any retail proposals on the town centre should be considered in the same way, and the decision will be taken by the planning committee of WNDC after hearing the views of Northampton Borough Council's planning committee.

There is nothing in today's Chronicle and Echo which indicates any support for the proposed application from me or from anyone else at the Council.

There is now a proper process to be gone through, as there would be if the Cobblers ever submitted an application, and when the council expresses its formal view to the application will be the time to determine if I or any other councillor is being inconsistent.

Meanwhile, you are welcome to put your views in writing to the Borough Council or to WNDC on the planning application after it has been submitted.