Council put brakes on Northampton train station plans
Plans to regenerate the area with a new multi-storey car park, hotel and flats have been delayed by the council.
Plans to regenerate the area surrounding Northampton train station with a new multi-storey car park, hotel and flats have been delayed by the council.
Network Rail and Blockwork LLP put forward proposals to redevelop the 7.2-hectare site next to the railway station, off Black Lion Hill and create what they called a “modern and efficient gateway into the town”.
According to the master plan, the station would have been transformed to include a new six-storey car park with a total of 854 parking spaces, cycle and pedestrian access routes from St Andrew’s Road and Black Lion Hill, a cycle parking hub, a covered walkway between the car park and station building, and bays for replacement bus services.
Outline plans for later phases of the development show an intention to provide up to 280 flats and a hotel with a maximum of 100 rooms by the station, both of which have been flagged as car-free.
The plans were recommended for approval by planning officers and put before West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) strategic planning committee on Tuesday, October 21.
Eluned Lewis-Nichol, who spoke on behalf of Northampton Living Streets, a campaign group for safe walking and cycle routes, told members that the scheme went against the council’s local transport plan and failed to create a connected travel hub.
She said: “There will be no room at all for improving a much-needed rail and bus connections. Rather than making cycling and walking the natural choice for short trips, it would actively discourage the cyclist or pedestrian from using the site.
“Don’t accept the proposals because they are an improvement on what they are now. The land has far more potential than that and the Local Transport Plan puts forward a vision for that land which would make it a gateway to the town, to the whole county.
“What this land is is a railway station and it should be developed as such.”
Cllr Fartun Ismail (Castle ward), added: “I recognise the need to improve and develop Northampton train station car park, however I have serious concerns about this plan.
“This is a major planning proposal that appears to have moved forward without local input from the residents and the wider community. At present, it feels too developer-led and not community-focused.
“The current proposal risks creating more problems than solutions.”
Members raised concerns about the lack of a bus interchange at the station and the risk of not providing an interconnected ‘major transport hub’ which will last for the next hundred years.
Robert Gardner, a spokesperson for the applicant, said the plans would “pave the way for this vital regeneration project”.
He explained: “The existing single-deck car park has quite a utilitarian appearance and doesn’t make efficient use of this important town centre site.
“Our view is that the car park, the cycle parking, and the public realm works are all really important for the future of the town and it’s for this reason that the council has committed to take on those elements in the running of the scheme.
“The brief that we have and the application isn’t for an integrated bus station and railway station. There is already a bus station in Northampton, which I understand has relatively recently been refurbished.
“What we have done is worked really closely on the interconnectivity between the two things.”
A highways officer also informed members that the bus hub was something they were interested in pursuing at the start of the project, but that conversations with providers resulted in them saying they would not want to go into the site due to the stop adding too much time onto existing routes.
Debating the project, Cllr Bob Purser (Abington and Phippsville) said: “I’m very concerned that we’re going to concrete ourselves into a plan that means that we can’t then come along later and come up with a more creative solution.”
Cllr Charles Manners (Rural South Northamptonshire) added: “It just seems that we haven’t joined all the dots. This is our once-in-100-years or one-in-50-years opportunity to get it right and we should have the community around us and supporting us.”
The committee ultimately voted to defer the project, requesting the applicant to look more into improved connectivity to the rest of the town centre and the design of the car park to be more carbon-friendly.
The plans will come back to the panel again in the future for a final decision.