Plans to build 217 houses on ‘eye sore’ wasteland in Northampton
Over two hundred houses are set to be built in an area of Northampton locals describe as a “wasteland” and “eye sore.” Plans have been submitted to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) and are now up for public consultation. Around 11.6 hectares of former landfill on Ransome Road in Far Cotton have been earmarked for the construction of 217 houses alongside ‘landscaping and open space’. The homes would be a mix of apartments and two to four-bedroom houses.
However, one local councillor who has worked for years for the development of the site says some local residents have concerns with the plans. She said whilst it is “good news”, more “common sense around the planning process” is needed. READ MORE: Children of Kettering nurse were strangled before dying in hospital, inquest told
The site on Ransome Road has been left abandoned since the Northampton to Peterborough Branch Railway closed in the 1970s and the former landfill site was cleared in the 1980s. A proposal to build houses on the site was made in 2004 but it was never followed through due to the state of the soil. Following an almost 20-year remediation of the soil, a planning proposal from Tilla Homes Ltd has been made to WNC to build the 217 market and affordable homes on the site.
Plans say that 23 of these homes will be affordable under government rules. Ransome Road itself runs onto the London Road (A508) and is bordered by the Grade II-listed Delapre Abbey to the south and the University of Northampton Waterside campus to the north. Plans show that the new development would build be based around eleven new streets with a single point of entry onto Ransome Road
Cllr Julie Davenport, Independent councillor for Delapre and Rushmere said the “wasteland” has been an “eye sore for many years” and has attracted “flytipping, anti-social behaviour, even a burnt out car or two.” She told NorthantsLive that the development of the site “is something I’ve been chasing for the past eight years” and she welcomes it as “good news.” However, she also revealed a number of “concerns” local residents have raised at the plans. The “greatest concern” being the position of the access road as the surrounding area “cannot cope with more traffic.”
The former landfill on Ransome Road has been a “wasteland” for decades
“The other issue is will there be enough parking on the development,” added Cllr Davenport. “We don’t need/want any more cars spilling out into Far Cotton because we don’t have enough parking as it is with Uni students, commuters, shoppers and people who work in town and the surrounding area parking free in Far Cotton.
Cllr Davenport admitted “more housing is desperately needed and it’s a great location close to Delapre Lake, Park and Abbey and close to Town Centre. But to have hundreds more cars cramming into an already tight space of Ransome Road and the junction at London Road/ASDA seems crazy to me. “Also, residents cannot get into local doctors and schools as it stands today so how does the local infrastructure cope with the influx of extra residents.
“We need joined up thinking with our Planning in West Northants,” concluded Cllr Davenport. “Residents are already sending in their objections. They are not against the development but they would like some common sense around the planning process, please!” Public consultation on the plans runs until February 1 2023.
Plans and other documents can be found on WNC’s website, here.
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