Regeneration plan for 'most in need' town centre

Plans to regenerate one of a county's "most in need" towns are being considered by a council.

Following a review of several towns, North Northamptonshire Council identified Wellingborough as "offering the biggest scale and opportunity for developing a long-term masterplan".

Reform UK councillor, Ken Harrington, said the masterplan could help turn the town "into a place that the people of Wellingborough will once again want to invite people in to visit".

The cost of undertaking the town centre review and developing a masterplan for Wellingborough is currently budgeted at £65,000.

A review was commissioned at the end of last year to look at four major towns in North Northamptonshire - Corby, Kettering, Rushden and Wellingborough - to determine which locations presented the best opportunities for new projects, to breathe life back into them.

It concluded Wellingborough offered the most opportunity for developing a masterplan, placing Kettering next in line to look in depth into regeneration opportunities, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The aim of the plan is to explore ways to deliver growth and regeneration within the community and nurture a thriving town centre.

At a meeting of the council's executive panel on Tuesday, Reform UK's Paul Brooke said: "We need to make it a place where people can work, rest and play.

"All towns get their nicknames, but Wellingborough is indeed going to be called the 'closed-down town' if we carry on the way we're going.

"It's got to change - all of our town centres have got to change."

Further development of masterplans for other towns such as Rushden and Corby will be considered later this year, however they will be subject to council budgets.

Concerns were raised about other towns having to wait for similar regeneration input, but the meeting heard the council does not have the funding to tackle everything at once.

Leader of the Reform UK-led council, Martin Griffiths, said: "We have to start somewhere.

"The learning that we get from Wellingborough can be rolled out not only across Rushden, Kettering and Corby, but let's take it further afield - be brave, be ambitious."

Residents are expected to be consulted before the Wellingborough masterplan is brought back to the executive this spring.

If approved, an action plan would then be considered.

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