Developer refused plea to delay building promised retail centre
Residents at Wellingborough’s Stanton Cross development are celebrating after councillors told a developer to get on and build
By Sarah Ward
A bid by the developer of one of the county’s largest housing estates has been told to keep its promise and build an already overdue retail centre.
Stanton Cross Developments (SDC) had asked North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) to amend a clause in its legally binding 106 agreement and move back the building of the promised centre off Driver Lane in Wellingborough until after 2,000 homes had been built.
The agreement, which was made in 2008, was that SDC would construct the retail building complex after 1200 homes, but despite already completing at least 1,345 homes on site, not a brick has been laid on the centre.
The developer requested in October to move back the trigger point, citing lack of commercial interest, but more than 300 letters of objection from Stanton Cross residents were sent to NNC against the request. Local councillors and the residents association also strongly opposed the delay and so last night, against the recommendation of its officer team, the councillors on the planning committee threw out the bid.
They voted unanimously against SDC’s request. It now remains to be seen whether enforcement action will be taken by the authority.
Several councillors were critical of the developer, who has said the trigger point of 1200 was hindering it getting a commercial partner to take on the build. It also said that known national supermarkets had not been interested in opening a store.
Cllr William Colquhoun (Labour, Corby West) dismissed the developer’s arguments as weak.
He said:
“I don’t think there is anything to be gained by extending the trigger. It is an opportunity for the developer to say ‘right, we don’t need to do anything for a few years’.”
He referenced the Little Stanion in Corby, which was promised a piazza by the developer and ended up with a portacabin.
He said if the SDC was looking at Tesco and Morrisons and they were not coming, then perhaps they needed to look at other options.
Cllr Darren Rance (Reform, Brickhill and Queensway) said:
“My experience is that if you build it someone will want to take it. I can’t see a good reason to postpone it.”
Wellingborough town councillor, Marion Turner Hawes (independent) spoke against the proposal.
She said:
“The developer has been aware for some time about the concerns of residents on this matter, so for residents this request is both upsetting and shows a lack of faith given the on-going discussions between the residents association and SDC.
“Worse still, the fact that the planning officer is recommending this request be accepted, despite the many hundreds of objections, has us all questioning who is prepared to stand up for our communities and enforce agreements?”
The unitary councillor for Stanton Cross, Cllr David Baker (Labour) also spoke out and said the clause variation should be refused and the ‘developer should be held to account’. He said they should be required to provide a detailed timetable of next steps.
The meeting also heard that residents who had moved to the development were already moving out due to a lack of progress on the retail centre.
During the meeting Chris Tompkins from SDC was grilled by the councillors. He said the developer had approached all the ‘major operators’ and it was ‘about finding the right partner, not just any partner’. He said at a house build rate of 300 homes each year, the requested new trigger point would be reached in two years. To audible groans from the public gallery he also denied the charge that homes had been sold on the basis of having a retail centre.
After the meeting the residents who made the 30 mile round trip to the council chamber at Corby Cube, to protest the bid, were emotional.
Chair of the residents association Shereen Okotie who moved to Stanton’s Cross from Swindon after being lured in by the country park, said:
“I feel like the committee listened to us and understood our concerns. Stanton Cross is a beautiful development, we have a thriving community and a real passion to support each other.
“But we need the retail centre and a neighbourhood centre as promised. We are now keen to have open dialogue with the council and SDC to make that happen.”
The area has a school and a community centre is also planned. This should be built by the council with money provided by the developer.
SDC LLP is a collective made up of Vistry Homes and Liverpool-based Riverside Regeneration Ltd. Builders such as Bovic, Bellway have been building houses on the site, which is in the East of the town and close to the rail station.
The agreement to build the homes was first approved by the former Wellingborough Borough Council (WBC) in 2008 and building began in 2018. The first brick was laid by Martin Griffiths, then the Tory leader WBC who is now the reform UK leader of NNC.
Should there be questions to the planning department asking why they had approved the application?