Local authority agrees to sell town centre land

A local authority has voted to sell off land to raise up to £7m in funds to regenerate town centres.

North Northamptonshire Council's executive will move forward with the sales of sites in Wellingborough, Rushden, Kettering and Desborough.

They include part of Jackson's Lane car park in Wellingborough, despite complaints from locals that the facility is a vital and well-used asset.

Martin Griffiths, the Reform UK-controlled council's leader, said part of Jackson's Lane would be retained for parking, but that the site had been identified as a "key location for the regeneration of Wellingborough".

Speaking at Tuesday's meeting, Griffiths said: "The whole site is 6.26 acres (2.53 hectares) and not all of that is taken up with car parking."

He said the council would see what proposals "come forward" for the future of the site.

David Baker, Labour councillor for Victoria Ward in Wellingborough, said residents had approached him with "serious concerns".

He said a proper consultation was needed and wanted the decision delayed to seek the views of "residents and all other local interests."

Sylvia Erskine, deputy mayor for Wellingborough Town Council, said a petition against the plans had been started and that "residents do not want to see this land sold to developers or removed from community use".

She said it was a "vital community asset that supports residents, faith groups, community organisations and the loss will have serious and lasting consequences".

Griffiths said the decision was only stage one or two of a 10-stage plan and that the council would "fully communicate those stages as we go forward".

Other council sites set to be sold include Saunders Close in Kettering and land currently occupied by a former care home in Beech Close, Desborough.

A parcel of land on Rectory Road, Rushden, currently used by Rushden Historical Transport Society under a lease, might be transferred to the group following negotiations, according to a council report.

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