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Spineless West Northants Council Needs to Act

Cllr Ian McCord has highlighted that Persimmon have been in breach of planning conditions that state the roundabout to the A5 and the first stretch of the A5 to the next roundabout must be open to traffic before the occupation of the 800th home.  More than 800 homes are now occupied and work has just begun (March 23 2023) to connect the new roundabout to the A5.

West Northamptonshire Council is too spineless to enforce planning conditions against Persimmon Homes.  Cllr Ian McCord has highlighted that Persimmon have been in breach of planning conditions that state the roundabout to the A5 and the first stretch of the A5 to the next roundabout must be open to traffic before the occupation of the 800^th home.  More than 800 homes are now occupied and work has just begun (March 23 2023) to connect the new roundabout to the A5.

Ian McCord reminded WNC that the condition was looming in April 22 when 700 houses had been built.  In November when the trigger of 800 homes was passed the council and Persimmon stated that work would begin in January.  Another three months have passed before any work began.  The housebuilding continues and Persimmon continue to sell houses and not honour their obligations.

The council officers have recently written to Cllr McCord to state that they know there is a breach of the conditions but will not do anything to rectify the situation.

Ian McCord said “ The Council are being played and the residents are taken for fools by Persimmon who know how to game the system and that they face a spineless organisation who will not enforce their obligations. 

“The planning conditions for Towcester South extension also state that the Towcester Relief Road must be open end to end before the occupation of 1016^th home, I have asked for assurances that this condition will be enforced.  It must remembered that the stated reason for these conditions is highway safety. The failure by both National Highways and West Northants Council to hold Persimmon to account must be impacting on highway safety on the A5 and Towcester.”

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Comments

Paul A

At 09:42 on 22nd March 2023, Paul A commented:

I don't think I am wrong saying that the residents of Towcester are sick and tired of excuses made by a weak council that fail to deliver on every level. It is time that the councillors put a hold on any future builds until the road infrastructure is sorted, this includes road conditions too.

This also highlights why as residents cannot accept a DHL warehouse located at Towcester due to the appalling road network in this area.
The relief road seems to be more of a myth than reality but even if it does get completed, it will be incapable of carrying the amount of traffic that will be moving in the area. If you look at Tamworth years ago they had the same traffic problems that we in Towcester experience today, they got a true bypass and the traffic load was significantly reduced in Tamworth town and in my opinion this is what Towcester needs.

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peter k

At 12:09 on 22nd March 2023, peter k commented:

Sadly, more and more chickens are coming home to roost. The days when a local council ran developments, planning them with all infrastructure being considered, has long been gone. We are therefore fully in the hands of developers, who have their own objectives.

Ian McCord is quite right to be concerned, but there is more than the infrastructure for this sorry road to concern us in Towcester. The two medical centres are over run by those needing appointments, the primary schools are no doubt equally having to take on more pupils than they were designed for and have basics such as sewage and the like been fully addressed?

My previous comment on this matter concerned exactly what WNC has in place to closely supervise projects such these developments. Still no clarification there. My feeling is they now have to rely on the likes of Persimmon Homes to advise them? Dogs and tails wagging comes to mind!

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