Warehouses scheme wins approval despite opposition

Campaigners opposed to a 148-acre (60-hectare) warehouse park that has won planning approval say it will "overpower and dominate" a village.

North Northamptonshire Council has given the go-ahead for the park to be built on greenfield land north of Halden's Parkway Industrial Estate in Thrapston.

The decision came despite about 800 local people objecting to the plans, with one objector saying it would "engulf" the nearby village of Titchmarsh.

But Reform UK council leader Martin Griffiths said the development had "potential to bring more investment and jobs" into the area.

The site is close to another warehousing scheme on Castle Manor Farm, which is set to go before a planning inquiry on 22 July.

IM Properties said the project would create more than 700 full-time jobs and involve investment of more than £100m.

But Titchmarsh parish councillor Sylvia Prestwich said the village would be "ruined by a monstrous warehouse development".

She added: "It will be overpowering and dominating, and we will be engulfed."

Local resident Julia Fletcher told councillors that campaigners were "the legal protectors of the jewel of the Northants crown and its rich environment".

Reform councillor Joseph Garner said the location was not suitable, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"The local plan is quite clear: developments of this scale are to be sited in towns designated as growth towns. Thrapston is not," he said.

However, David Smith, from IM Properties, insisted Thrapston was "absolutely the right location" for the development.

Conservative councillor David Brackenbury, who did not vote on the plans so he could speak against them, said they were "nodded through" despite opposition.

But council leader Griffiths stressed most planning committee members were in favour of the application.

He described the meeting as "balanced and objective", adding he respected the decision.

"The officer who presented the item did an exceptional job in doing so and there was a significant period of time for public speakers and committee members to debate the application," he said.

Thrapston Town Council, which was not able to speak at the committee meeting, called the decision "a blow to the local community, to the environment and to the integrity of the Upper Nene Valley landscape".

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