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Northants Residents Alliance have been asking this question for quite sometime. We have asked Stephen Kelly of WNDC on several occasions how the un-elected Planning Authority will make provision for essential services to sustain the massive growth planned for Northampton (45,000 houses in 13 years) and Northamptonshire County (over 100,000 houses). Whereas Kelly will often quote how they are applying for this grant or another and how WNDC are in talks with the Primary Care Trust over the provision of much-needed medical centres, it would appear that not much has been forthcoming in either funding or even medical centres.
As the race to overdevelop Northampton speeds up, concerns are being raised by others outside of NRA. Cllr. Varnsverry (Liberal) stated at a public meeting recently that although WNDC had applied to Government for £100 Million funding for essential infrastructure works, they were awarded only £30 Million. He said “Northampton is being ripped off”. We agree. By now it should be obvious to anyone that there is an obscene race to get planning permission for thousands of new houses - 2,600 at Upton Lodge, 4,500 at Wootton/Hardingstone, 1,250 at Buckton Fields and 3,500 at Dallington Heath.
Residents groups, along with NRA have been called NIMBY’s (Not In My Back Yard) by the Government and WNDC, because we are trying to impress upon the Planners, Developers and the Government that our objections are centred around the undeniable and significant problems that will arise when tens of thousands of new residents move into areas that have insufficient infrastructure.
NRA are launching their new “Infrastructure Triangle of Responsible Development” (see above) at the forthcoming Wootton SDA exhibition. It is designed to state the obvious truth: If you plan to increase the population of the town by 60%, then you must plan strategically and obtain guaranteed funding for all essential services upfront. Subconsciously, living in a first-world country like England, we all expect that this would happen as a matter of course. However, to date all we have seen are various proposals for several large new housing developments, with very little Government funding being made available for essential networks and services. At the same time, existing developments such as St. Crispin still have scores of unsold and un-rented houses; Developers have walked off the Upton development site at Sixfields - claiming poor market conditions - and the promised facilities such as a medical centre and a community centre will now not materialise after 5 years of waiting.
In spite of being in business for 3 years, WNDC has still not published a document for the public that shows the joined-up plan for roads, sewerage, schools and all other services that residents will depend upon for everyday living in a town that will be 60% larger than today. This is because there is no such plan. WNDC have the power to award planning permission for development, but by their own admission have little or no control over the wide range of authorities that will supply the infrastructure.
Our challenge is to Northamptonshire County Council, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation and South Northamptonshire Council to recognise the irreparable damage they will be visiting upon our community if they mindlessly accede to unwarranted pressure from the Government to build! build! build! without substantial infrastructure investment and development up front. Our Planners need to replace blind obedience with intelligence in the planning process and start looking after the long term best interests of the local population. It may be expedient to pretend that a lack of roads, sewerage, flood management, schools, health services, emergency services and others won’t matter for each of these individual planning applications, but they should be more honest and get to grips with the strategic provision of essential infrastructure that keeps one step ahead of the development. Failure to do so NOW will result in serious deprivation for both new and existing residents in the short to medium term.
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