Northamptonshire: Campaigners oppose rural area warehouses

Campaigners in Northamptonshire said planned warehouses for rural areas were "inappropriate".

Two sites of large-scale developments were proposed near Titchmarsh in the north of the county.

And in Towcester a warehouse has been proposed by logistics company DHL with access to the A43 and the A5.

The developers of all the three sites, yet to be approved by the local authorities, have said they will be "sustainable".

Campaign group Save Titchmarsh and Upper Nene Countryside and Habitats (STAUNCH) was formed to protest against developments on the edge of the village, near Thrapston.

Castle Manor Farm has plans for warehousing, while on next door Glebe Land, Thrapston Business Park has been proposed.

Sharon Cole, secretary of STAUNCH and a Titchmarsh resident, said Northamptonshire was becoming "the county of sheds" with the increase in warehousing.

She said: "My concerns are that they are totally inappropriate for this site.

"They are opportunistic applications to try and make money from sites that are available, instead of choosing sites that are appropriate for need."

Kevin Shapland, chair of STAUNCH, said the campaign group was not anti-development.

"What we want is to make sure that any development that does take place is appropriate, it is proportionate and it's also sustainable," he said.

Mr Shapland, a former President of Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce, said the sites near Titchmarsh did not "fall into those categories".

Newlands Developments, which has proposed warehousing on Castle Manor Farm, said it was an "environmentally sustainable logistics development".

It said there was an "acute need" for the facility, local people would have job opportunities, and it will be "embedded within the communities it serves".

David Smith, director of planning and communities at IM Properties, which has put forward plans for Thrapston Business Park said the company was "committed to sustainable development".

He said the scheme would provide business space and jobs and claimed there were plans to increase biodiversity "in contrast to a site in agricultural use".

In Towcester a warehouse has been proposed by logistics company DHL, on land behind the Bell Plantation garden centre.

Co-founder of the campaign group Save Towcester Now, Louise Croft, said the development was "inappropriate and unsuitable for this area".

"There could be high-tech low-rise, small businesses coming in [to the land], which will provide the sort of employment that is suitable for this area and would look appropriate too," she said.

DHL Supply Chain said the proposed site in Towcester met "the highest standards of sustainable development and will create over 1,200 new jobs".

The company said it will also provide "14 acres of landscaped land for the community" and land for Towcester Town Football Club.

North Northamptonshire Council has yet to consider the two developments near Titchmarsh and West Northamptonshire Council has not considered the warehouse plan for Towcester.

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