WASPRA's Invites all residents to our Open Event...

Today we started distribution of our colour leaflet, which currently adorns our home page. This time we have decided to extend our hospitality to all those who might be affected by any developments on the Buckton Fields site. We plan to deliver to Whitehills, Spring Park, Boughton, Obelisk Rise, Brampton Park, The Bramptons, Kingsthorpe and beyond...

However, we have a limited stock of leaflets, so if we haven't got to you and you're reading this, come to our Open Event. We have invited elected representatives from across the political spectrum, from across the council divide and they represent YOU! Come and find out what the say about this, what's more, talk to them, share your thoughts. All we ask is that you all respect one another, and please watch what you say and do there'll be kids present!

Yes, that's right, kids! In order to allow those families out there who so often find it difficult to get to these functions, we are offering a venue where we can take care of your little ones whilst you circulate and possibly write that letter about how you feel to the DDC. We are providing a supervised area for children upto year 4 staffed by CRB registered members of WASPRA.

We will be providing a 'letter writing unit', staffed by a qualified English Teacher and a number of Computers for use on the day. You can either take away a fact sheet on how and what to write or maybe you would prefer to knock up a letter there and then and deposit it in our on-site letterbox. Yes, we'll even deliver it for you, no stamp required!

So, come along, there's no excuses, we're open from 1.30pm until 5.30pm, get yousrself heard! The Pastures Community Centre, Off Acre Lane, Welford Road, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, NN2 8PN.

For a map please, click here!.

DDC's Reply to WASPRA's request...
Read between the lines

We thank Daventry District Council for their swift response to our request for additional time to consider our comments over such a large development. 21 days (28 in this case) is not a long time when attempting to comprehend a large amount of data and make a careful and considered response on such a large undertaking as this. What DDC's planning committee is charged with here is deciding on whether to condemn 50 Hectares of green fields to perpetual a life under concrete. We the public have less than a month to identify any potential flaws in the plan and let them know.

Alas our request was not to be. Government rules stipulate that we are not allowed any more than the stipulated 21 days. If I were to request planning permission to extend my house, my neighbour would get the same 21 days.

Don't dispair though! All is not lost, and our open day (afternoon) shall go ahead. The letter goes on to stipulate that "the Council will normally continue to consider representations received on an application up to the day before planning committee." This leaves the door open for you all to send in your comments, whether they be for or against. Come to our event on Saturday 26th January at The Pastures and have your say!

To download the letter from the DDC, please click the button.

WASPRA letter to DDC requesting deadline extension

WASPRA committee have today sent a letter to Daventry District Council requesting an extension to the current deadline of 18th January 2008 in light of our Open Day which is scheduled for 26th January 2008. The open day has been organised at the Pastures Community Centre on a Saturday afternoon.

We plan to have available information about the proposed Ensign plans, as well as experts in various fields such as Flooding and Roads and several locally elected politicians. We will offer advise on writing letters to Daventry District Council as well as facilities to do so on the day. Refreshments will be available and we will offer facilities to occupy the kids whilst the adults concentrate on the matters at hand.

We hope to see you there!

To download the letter sent to DDC, please click the button.

Daventry District Council notify residents of Registration of Application for Buckton Fields

The long anticipated registration of Ensign's application was today announced to local residents in the immediate area of Buckton Fields by letter. The registration number is DA/2007/1400 and must be included on all letters of correspondance relating to this application; all comments received by the council without this reference will not be considered. The current closing date for all comments is the 18th January 2008.

If you wish to put forward your own views then use the following contact details.

Keith Thursfield,
Development Control Manager,
Davenrty District Council,
Lodge Road,
Daventry,
Northamptonshire,
NN11 4FP

Remember to always quote the application number: DA/2007/1400

To download the letter from Daventry District Council, please click the button.

Second Ensign Buckton Fields Exhibition & Website update

I must again apologise early on for by cynical views, but can anyone hold their hand up and honestly say that the exhibition we witnessed today was in anyway informative and in the public interest? They trotted out the same patronising consultants with glib smiles and tired old information boards with a few additional ones for good measure. I must confess it was nice for me to speak directly to residents that I would not ordinarily have contact with and obtain their feedback, but I sympathise with those of you who turned out on a grim and dark December day expecting answers to heartfelt concerns over these plans and came away feeling short-changed.

What are they going to do about the roads? Traffic is a major issue in this area, the queues on the Harborough Road Stretch back to Pitsford weekdays, and the Welford Road has problems backing up to the Acre Lane and Brampton Park areas most days, not to mention Brampton Lane, upon which this development will have access. What will become of Boughton and Chapel Brampton, surely this will lead to just more frustrated drivers diverting through the Villages? the solution? Park and Ride.

They came up short on the topic of schooling too, when asked where the children from the initial 500 new houses will go they advised that this would be easily absorbed by local schools, they hadn't banked on the question being posed by one of the local headmistresses who advised them of the chronic shortage of school places in the area. One of their 'consultants' advised that the school indicated on the plans for phase three may actually never be constructed!

And where will these new residents shop? Well in Kingsthorpe of course, despite the near impossibility of actually parking there at the moment; again the shops to service this development are scheduled for phase three, which can be anywhere up to six years or more away. Oh yes, and the recently saved 'Smith's Farm Shop' will no doubt benefit greatly from this captive audience. There will obviously be more traffic chaos at the local shops on Whitehills Crescent that will bring more misery to the residents around the Whitehills Pub Area.

There were many other points that seem to have been unanswered by them, their only answer seems to be that the Government want more houses and we are going to build them here.

Second Edition of WASPRA newsletter hits the streets

As promised we have followed up our successful 'pilot' newsletter with our second 'Christmas' edition, hopefully spreading the word and making people aware that we are still at work and also to dispell the illusion cast by Ensign that the approval for their housing development is a mere formality. It most certainly is not, and we hope to communicate this message to people without access to the internet through this newsletter.



To download the December edition of the WASPRA newsletter

Boughton Quarry consultation re-opened

Residents within a 500 metre radius of Boughton Quarry have again been contacted by the Northampton County Council, advising them that a second consultation period has opened after new information was put forward by the applicant, Peter Bennie Ltd.

As you may recall, Peter Bennie wish to build an In-Vessel composting facility on the site which has raised many concerns within the local community, especially those closest to the site like the residents of Boughton. There is a good reason to be wary of such a development, especially as there are numerous issues with the application. In our opinion the whole community surrounding the site should be consulted as there is a very real risk that this could cause all sorts of problems in the future if the application and monitoring of the site is handled incorrectly.

To find out more about this particular planning application then follow this link and look for application No DA/07/0309

If you wish to put forward your own views then use the following contact details.

James Griffin,
Development Control Management,
Northamptonshite County Council,
P.O.Box 163,
Floor3, County Hall,
Northampton,
NN1 1AX

Remember to always quote the application number: DA/07/0309

To download the recent letters sent to residents please click here.

Ensign 'Community Update' Newsletter distributed

I trust that a majority of our readers have received the Ensign 'newsletter', which to my mind has little news in it, but I guess its more information than we have had from Ensign than we've had in the whole six months since their May Exhibition! Interesting how they talk about a 'Comprehensive programme of pre-application community engagement'; this seems to have been made up of a the following:-

1) a small presentation to the Northampton Borough Council's Area Partnership meeting in March, where the consultants from Carmargue told the concerned residents that the developer would have an exhibition lasting "two full days".
2) The developers own website, that received no updates from its inception until November; its news page consisted of one press release from April!
3) An A5 booklet which had a very limited distribution coverage, in fact it seemed to be only available to those who wrote to Carmague after the NBC meeting in March.
4) Ensign Exhibition that in actual fact consisted of a total of only 7 1/2 hours across two days instead of the promised 'two full days, and which was very poorly advertised (as highlighted at the time)
5) their recent 'Community Update' Newsletter.

Hardly comprehensive in my book, certainly falls far short of a thorough and 'successful' consultation as claimed by Andrew Wilson in their newsletter.

Having received feedback from a fair number of people in the community, there were many who felt upon reading the newsletter that planning permission was a forgone conclusion, even some who thought it had already been granted; certainly the document carried an undertone of finality to it, especially with numerous references to the secretary of state, it's as if they have the total backing of the government! Let us assure you that planning permission certainly has NOT yet been granted, and it is essential that we turn out in numbers to show those making the decision our own points of view. There is the small matter of the planning application being subject to approval by the elected councilors of Daventry District Council, or has the approval system been so skewed in favour of these large development companies to such an extent that they can make these assumptions? Has democracy finally fallen foul of the current political tide? Only time will tell.

The newsletter also brought claims by the developer of 'listening' to the public and making changes to their plans to accommodate our concerns. This came in the form of lowering the density of the estate by reducing down the number of homes to 1,250, which is still 1,250 too many, and also by announcing the retention of Smiths 'Farm' Shop. Quite how a farm shop can be termed a 'farm' shop without a farm is baffling? I guess this explains the expansion and investment in the farm shop over the summer, despite the looming disaster that awaited them, or perhaps they knew something we didn't? My attention was also drawn to provision of a grass verge that now runs behind the houses that back onto the fields on Sherwood Avenue and part of Fallow Walk; this was again heralded as being a result of public opinion, but in reality this thin strip of land is insignificant, especially if you look at the amount of green space fronting onto Brampton Lane on the northern boundary or that afforded the park and ride scheme, which is only there because the County Council will only let them have the land to develop on if they build it.

The last piece of news is the 'fast-tracking' of 500 houses, what they have termed 'Buckton Fields East', through submission of a second planning application early next year. They claim Northampton is crying out for more housing, which is interesting because the property paper last week certainly seemed to be brimming with available houses; yes there is a demand for council housing, but as we have already wittnessed on other developments in the town, their idea of 'affordable' is beyond the means of many of those on the waiting list. These houses have invariably ended up being bought by buy-to-let landlords who them rent them on for profit to those who can't afford to buy them. We feel there are other reasons for breaking up the application into smaller applications which benefit the developer.

In order to 'consult' with the public they have scheduled another short exhibition for Wednesday 12th December at the Obelisk Centre between 2pm and 9pm. Now call me a cynic, but this all seems to be planned very neatly to attract as few people as possible; we are now well into December when most of the population are geared up for Christmas shopping and office parties, plus the fact its on a Wednesday so many people will be at work for much of the day. If you factor in the long, dark and cold winter evenings I can foresee very few people wanting to actually turn out. The location is not exactly central for those most affected by the proposals, and I hope you all know where the Obelisk Centre is because the map provided is hardly designed to get you there! Having said all this, I must urge as many of those who are able to attend the Exhibition, as we really need to make them aware of the groundswell of public opinion is against this. If you need a better map, try this.

Further details of Buckton Fields East and other Ensign propaganda can be seen on the Ensign Website which can be found here.

Ensign Planning Application Submitted

Well dispite its anticipated arrival, when finally advised of its submission it is still a shock to the system. We have been informed that Daventry District Council received the application late on Monday afternoon, a real Halloween Horror in our opinion.

Interestingly there is no mention of this development on Ensign's Buckton Fields website, dispite their promise of open dialogue when 'communicating' with the public. The last 'news' release on their site is dated 25th April.

Pardon my synnisism, but it seems to me that this has been submitted at a time when the genearal public will be pre-occupied with Christmas presents and office parties rather than public demonstrations and planning committees. I trust that we may be able to persuade the residents here that their input is highly valuable.

It has been explained to us that due to current workload the application will probably not even be looked at until next week (commencing 6th November) and that it will take at least two weeks to validate it as being a legitimate submission, probably posted around the 20th November. It is at this time a planning number will be made public; it is important to note that ALL letters in reference to this application MUST HAVE this planning number on the top of the correspondance in order to be included in the process.

We are now organising ourselves for a second Public Meeting and leaflet distribution to the area, as well as guidelines and suggested topics for objection; these will all be posted on this website - I promise!

Northampton Residents Alliance Public Meetiing

A well attended meeting hosted by the NRA for yet more concerned residents. The evening was centred on the proposed developments at Dallington Heath and Buckton Fields, carrying the leader 'Dallington up the Junction'. The speakers on this evening included NRA Chair and spokesman for the Duston Action Group, Roger Kingston, Traffic Congestion views from Paul Witherington of local group SOS! and the local prospective was further rammed home by Ian Suter of WASPRA. Invited political opinions from Liberal Democrat parliamentary contendor and Borough Councillor Andrew Simpson and Conservative District Councillor Sally Townsend from South Northamptonshire DC.

After a breif introduction Paul Witherington, who spent many years as a transport and roads planner for the borough and county councils, opened the meeting with the a breif history of the North West Link Road and implications for our local roads that development at Dallington and Whitehills would bring to the local area, how ineffectual the proposed road 'improvements' and park and ride schemes would be and the eventual misery road users would experience. He categorically dismissed the proposed route identified by the WNJPU consultation as being ridiculous and un-buildable.

Next up was WASPRA's Ian Suter, who first of all questioned why the term NIBMY was such a dirty word; surely in a time when we were all being told how we all needed to be environmentally freindly and the perils of climate change on the world our children inherit, why should we not be concerned about the incesent demand for houses to be built on green spaces. Why not concentrate on using up existing empty housing stock and unused warehousing & office space before rubber stamping the building on our green fields through an unelected body.

Ian went on to explain that WASPRA were ready and waiting for the impending planning application from Ensign for houses on Buckton Fields, and used published figures from a survey by the current Labour MP for Northampton North, Sally Keeble, to show how local residents felt about the proposed development. Sally has advised that she has written to both the Daventry District Council and Ensign to put across the groundswell of opinion in the local area and also to explain her own misgivings over the proposal. She had advised us that she beleived the plans had so many issues that they would be dropped. Ian wrapped up his segment urging people to get in the WNJPU's questionnaire due in on the 31st October.

Andrew Simpson used his address to the meeting for a scathing attack on the un-elected West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, highlighting how in-effectual they really were and dismissive of local peoples concerns and needs, drawing our attention to the spending of valuable money on an expensive 'monument' rather than spend it on the improving the infrastructure of the town. He too urged the population to use the opportunity of the WNJPU questionnaire to make their feelings known.

Sally Townsend's contribution was breif but the message was clear, we should all use the WNJPU survey to put forward our distaste for the 'rapid' expansion of Northamptonshire without putting in place the necessary Infrastructural improvements for such unprecedented growth.

Roger rounded off the evening with news on the topics of Solifluxion (soil composition that leads to landslides) and the very real risk of flooding due to oversights and underhanded practice by the Environment Agency, English Partnerships and the WNDC. He was critical of the methods used by the WNDC and WNJPU at trying to 'divide and conquer' the townsfolk of Northampton by publishing four options depicting developments in various corners of the town. He urged people to fill in the questionnaire and nominate none of the options, instead asking for a new town to be built with the right infrastructure rather than kill Northampton by strangling it to death.

Distribution of the first WASPRA Newsletter

After much preparation and last minute alterations we published and distributed our first edition of the WASPRA News. We headlined with the story about the Controvertial route of the North West Link Road, as publicised in the consultation booklets which formed a part of the consultation by the newly formed West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit. Other stories included an update on the pending Ensign planning application for Buckton Fields and News of Boughton Quarry which is also a cause for concern.

An alterior motive of the newsletter was to let the residents of the area know that we were still active and preparing for the application from Ensign Group. It has been three months since the Open Meeting and the long summer with no news may lead people to think that we had fleed the scene, we wanted to re-assure people that we were still operational and meeting each fortnight in readiness.

To download the WASPRA newsletter

Northampton Residents Alliance 'Bastille Day' Protest

The much publicised march was well attended, with many members of the Alliance team getting into the stride of the occasion by wearing period costume from the days of the French Revolution under the theme 'Northampton is Revolting!'.

The intention of the march was to increase public awareness of the Alliance and swell its membership, and the day proved to be a success on both accounts.

Roger Kingston rounded off the march with a speech on the steps of Northampton's Guildhall, raising our concerns over Government plans to build 49,000+ houses in Northampton without the infrastructure to support it, and through an undemocratically appointed government quango who have denuded the planning rights of the publicly elected local councils.

WASPRA Inaugural Committee Meeting

As a follow up to the public meeting held in the Kingsthorpe Community College, people who put forward their names as volunteers were contacted and those interested in sitting on a core committee met up to discuss the way forward.

A provisional team was formed and actions decided. Key positions were elected,
those being:-

Chairman : Ian Suter
Secretary : Laura Wilkinson
Treasurer : Darren Kennedy
Committee Members : Alan Bartlett, Angela Bartlett, Anne Butler, Patrick Cross, Liz Gray, Val Holmes, Charlotte Mills, Sam Owen-Oliver, Pauline Stone, Roger Stone and Kim Suter

Discussions were held on numerous topics, including the name and type of group we wished to found. It was decided that we would found a Residents Association, as this would provide a far more positive impact on the local community and hopefully last longer than the duration of the 'dispute' with the developers. The name Whitehills And Spring Park Residents Association was agreed. Other topics included methods of communication with the residents, WASPRA constitution, and ongoing strategies. We also agreed to meet every other Tuesday at an agreed venue.

Northampton Residents Alliance Public Meetiing

Again a very well attended meeting of concerned residents from across Northamptonshire showed up on a very stormy evening to listen to speakers from the alliance. The key speakers were Roger Kingston from The Duston Action Group John Goodhall from the Nene Flood Prevention Alliance and Paul Witherington from campaign group SOS!

John produced conclusive evidence that the flood plane predictions being used by the West Northampton Development Corporation are actually based on figures under estimating the size of the flood plane by more than 40%. The environment agency had discounted figures recorded during the floods of 1947 as being uncorroborated, but he has unearthed documents that can prove them to be correct. When using these figures instead of those favoured by the WNDC it could mean dire consequences to the new developements in the Nene Valley and on the West of Northampton.

Roger Kingston also announced plans for a Rally in Northampton town centre on the 14th July.

Public Meetiing for Residents

At last the long awaited inaugural public meeting of local residents has finally occured. We had invited local politicians from all major parties, but unfortunately we had apologies from Sally Keeble, Labour MP for Northampton North and the Conservative Daventry District Councillor for Boughton was overseas; that being said we had two Boughton Green Borough Councillors from the Liberal Democrates John Yates and Trini Crake, as well as Paul Witherington from the SOS group for his speach on Transport.

I will post the minutes of the meeting for download when prepared, so forgive me for not rewriting them again here. Needless to say we had an overwhelming show of support from Local Residents to whom I must express my thanks, it makes all the efforts we have put in worthwhile. We are now trawling through all the attendance notes and will start establishing contact with those people who stressed an interest in doing a bit more for the cause. Here are some soundbites from the evening...

...What I must tell you is that this is not a done deal...

...Apathy is our biggest enemy, it's what the developers rely on...

...This is not just for you, its for your children and future generations...

...Buckton Fields simply shouldn't happen. We've got to stop building on the countryside...

I would like to once more extend my gratitude to curator of KCC, the speakers and to all those who showed up on the night in a definative demonstration of our disaproval to this proposed development, and also to all those who have contacted me after the meeting with suggestions and messages of support. Chronicle and Echo reporter Wayne Bontoft was there, you can view his report here.

Public Meetiing for Residents

After many phone calls we have now secured a venue and date for our first meeting. We are hoping for as large a turnout as possible for this as we wish to show the local councillors that there is a large feeling of displeasure over this development. To this end we have asked some of the local politicians to attend as well as the press. I appreciate that the timescales are short, but we must get the message across. To this end we have printed and distributed over 2,500 leaflets to local residents in the Spring Park and Whitehills area.

Online Petition organised

Organising the on-line petition was actually very easy, and hopefully will allow people to register their support and opinions somewhere other than their front room or at work! As you obviously have access to the internet to view this site then I must urge you to sign the online petition by clicking here.

Buckton Fields dot com is born

After much hairpulling and gnashing of teeth and the help of a very good freind I managed to launch this website. Maybe no great feat, but as it's my first attempt...

Ensign Public Exhibition Opened

Dispite practically no notification to the local public of this event, apart from the report in the Chronicle & Echo the week before (not too many folk buy the local paper in this area it seems), turnout was apparently good; I have had reports that attendance was high even on the Friday afternoon. Alas the timings fell short of the "Two full days" promised by Tim Reid of Carmargue to the NBC Meeting on the 21st March (its in the minutes), therefore we were unable to acheive the best attendance figures. For those of you unable to attend to see what they are proposing you can visit their website, or simply have a look at their PDF 'brochure'. I for one was unimpressed by their arguements, certainly traffic congestion cannot be resolved with a bus lane on the Welford road and a park and ride scheme. Their transport 'expert' dismissed County Coucil published figures as inacurate, prefering to use their own (suprise, suprise). One of my colleagues was talking to their expert on drainage who revealed that they had only performed geological & drainage surveys on one third of the land (most easterly section open to the public) and they assumed that the rest was of a similar constitution? how can they progress with accurate plans without performing the relevant surveys on the whole area? To be honest most people I have spoken to were not taken in by their arguements nor their smug grins.

Headline: "Joining Up"

Frontpage news announced the launch of a cross county pressure group termed the Northants Residents Alliance. This group was founded to create a larger organisation to fight for the return of democracy into the planning process after the creation of the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation by the ODPM in 2005. The newspaper article can be viewed at the Herald and Post website.

It must have been fate, as when I read the newspaper article I immediately sent a message to their contact e-mail introducing them to our plight and informing them of the Ensign exhibition the following day. Some of the members of this group who live in the area effected by this development were unaware of the event and were thus able to attend, providing some very searching questions I would never have thought of!

Headline: "1,500 houses plan back on"

This article was alas printed a week too early by the local press, resulting in many people turning up to the Kingsthorpe Community College's Welford Road site a week early. The article can be viewed online here. If the reporter had specified a date instead of stating just the days of the week then many more residents might have shown up on the proper day.

Notification of Proposed Development at Boughton Quarry Announced

In another blow to the Buckton Fields area, the owner of Boughton quarry on Brampton Lane, Peter Bennie Ltd. submitted a planning application to the NCC to change the use of the site from a 'Waste Transfer and Recycling' centre to be an 'In-vessel Composting Facility'.

Not all residents have been notified of this application, and what's more, what is an in-vessel composting facility anyway? To answer that question a PDF document is available by clicking here. Although the original date for written objections was posted on the letter as the 24th April, this has subsequently been extended to July. You are strongly urged to check out the details of this application, which is viewable here, application number DA/07/0309. Letters of objection should be sent to the following address:-

Neal Richmond,
Development Control Management,
Northamptonshite County Council,
P.O.Box 163,
Floor3, County Hall,
Northampton,
NN1 1AX

We have compiled some useful information about this which may be useful in composing a letter of concern, these will be viewable on a seperate page on this site in the near future. Although you may not think this will effect you, the raw material in making this compost is Biodegradable Kitchen/Catering and Garden Waste. If you have ever smelt your own rubbish bin after a few days then imagine what 30 8-20 Ton lorries a day might be like. Please also note that the Council currently have no-one on staff with any knowledge of this type of plant, and the closest example of one on the same scale is apparently in Ireland.

NBC Meeting for Area Partnership 3 (Boughton Green/St Davids Ward)

The first inkling to the public that Ensign group had designs on re-submitting building plans for Buckton Fields was as a Pre Applicatiopn Presentation at this meeting; thankfully we got to find out about the meeting through the Liberal Democrat monthy Focus flyer. Alas, due to the short notice, the meeting was poorly attended, As noted in the minutes, councillor Crake said...

a discussion on Buckton Fields was the reason for the change of venue, she was disappointed that despite very extensive leaflet drops there was a very poor turnout to this meeting to discuss what was a very significant issue for residents of the Kingsthorpe area.

dispite the low turn-out I think those of us who did attend put forward some salient points. The meeting played host to a Tim Reid and Beth Motley from a consulation firm called Carmargue, representing the developer. The minutes to the meeting can be viewed on the NBC website