Scrapping plan to sell playing field 'a setback'

A senior councillor has admitted that scrapping a plan to sell off a playing field to fund improvements is a setback.

West Northamptonshire Council had proposed to sell Eastern Way playing field in Daventry but dropped the idea following local opposition.

Dan Lister, the authority's cabinet member for local economy, said other ways of securing investment would have to be found.

He added that a town board would be set up to discuss future plans.

The inclusion in a masterplan of the Eastern Way playing field, which used to be attached to Daventry Grammar School but was now used for events, sent shock waves around the town.

A petition against selling off the field for housing to fund town centre improvements was signed by 2,000 people, and about 1,000 attended a protest rally at the site.

The Conservative-controlled authority announced at the weekend that it was removing the sell-off from the plan.

Lister insisted this was not a U-turn.

He said: "This was always a consultation, this wasn't 'we are going to sell it'.

"This was part of a much bigger plan about how we start to regenerate Daventry - this was a catalyst development."

He added that people were always saying that the council did not listen, but it was now being criticised for doing so.

Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors on the authority campaigned against the sell-off.

Asked on BBC Radio Northampton whether the change of heart was a setback, Lister said: "One hundred percent it is - it was very much an enabling development - we said this specific area, we will be earmark to put into the town.

"We're still committed to finding other ways to be able to do the vision, do the changes that we can have in Daventry, look at what we can do in the short term to support it and try to get that catalyst going because Daventry deserves better than just people protesting around certain things."

He said that a Town Board would be set up to get "stakeholders" together and "let the community take ownership of the changes they need and work out how we can fund them as well".

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