Planning Inquiry Appeal Decision

The Borough Council is disappointed that the Secretary of State is minded to uphold the appeal lodged by Bee Bee Developments over the non-determination of their application to create an Urban Extension (of 3,000 houses, 2,600m² of retail and 7ha of employment land) to the north of Wellingborough.

 Clearly, the Secretary of State was not convinced by the Borough Council's concerns that the North Wellingborough Urban Extension was premature.  The Borough Council has already given consent to a large urban extension to the East of Wellingborough, "Stanton Cross" (3,100 homes, 3,500m² of retail, and 50 ha of employment land). Councillors felt the application for the North Wellingborough development was premature and could not be supported by the present infrastructure. Councillors were concerned that there was little prospect of additional infrastructure being delivered as the extension was developed. In addition, councillors were concerned about the impact that the proposed North Wellingborough development would have on the timescale for bringing forward the already approved Stantion Cross development.

 Councillors were strongly committed to ensuring that there were adequate resources to provide roads, schools and employment to support the urban extension as it was developed.

 The Leader of the Council, Cllr John Bailey, said: "I am very disappointed that the Secretary of State has not recognised our concerns over the phasing of development and the impact the development will have on the infrastructure and the rest of the town.  Wellingborough now has 6,600 consented homes on major sites, which are not coming forward due to infrastructure and viability constraints.  Therefore, the Council will be urging the Government to work with us to ensure the Borough receives the right level of infrastructure to accommodate this substantial housing growth."