Rushden shops plan would be ‘disaster’ for other centres
Rushden: The old Skew Bridge Ski Club site which there are now development plans. Thursday, 12 May 2011
An MP has strongly criticised the plan for a £50m shopping complex on the edge of Rushden, believing it will be a “disaster”for the future of other town centres.
Kettering MP Philip Hollobone spoke out about the proposed multi-million pound Rushden Lakes plan at Skew Bridge in Parliament.
Mr Hollobone said he will urge the Government to call in the application once it is registered with East Northamptonshire Council, and to turn it down, after receiving a concerned letter from the owners of the Newlands Centre in Kettering which set alarm bells ringing.
Speaking after the debate, he said: “The proposal, which will have some 20 High Street stores, goes against the North Northamptonshire Core Spacial Strategy that local authorities signed up to, which makes it clear retail expansion should be in town centres.
“We either support our major town centres or we are waving the white flag in surrender to large-scale out-of-town development.
“The development will be a disaster for Kettering, it is something I feel very strongly about.
“This development is against all the work that has gone into local planning policy.”
The proposed Rushden Lakes development includes 20 new shops, possibly a large Marks & Spencer, garden centre, hotel, leisure centre, a lake marina and restaurants.
Developers LXB Retail Properties Plc hopes the park will open within the next two years.
Business leaders have some sympathy with the MP’s comments.
Mark Robinson, founding partner of Ellandi, the company which owns the Newlands Centre, wrote the letter to the MP which was read out in Parliament.
He said: “It won’t destroy Kettering town centre but it makes it more difficult to get it back to what it should be.
“Kettering deserves a good town centre.
“We’ve got units we’ll want to market to retailers when the economy picks up, but the Rushden complex could take them instead. Retailers will only put so many stores in the region.
“All of the local town centre managers are concerned.”
The plans were outlined in November and consultations have already taken place.
Neil Griffin, chairman of Kettering Chamber of Commerce, said: “With all the emphasis about keeping people in town centres, an out-of-town development is the last thing we need.”
But Rushden Town Council leader Sarah Peacock has said the plan is long overdue.
She said: “Corby and Kettering have had a tremendous amount of money invested into them.
“You could say this has been detrimental for Rushden and East Northants. It will give a major boost to the area and create not only jobs, but tourism.”
Rushden Chamber of Trade chairman Adrian House said: “I don’t think just town centre shopping plans are viable.
“If that was the case, we’d only be left with Milton Keynes and Peterborough.”
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Comments
There are 16 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
JennieGreen
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 11:55 AMI think it is a great plan,it will create more jobs thus bringing more money into the area. Corby and Kettering have their retail parks why not the people of Rushden and Higham. As an origanal resident of Higham Ferrers we have had to put up with change over the years this can only be for the better Isay lets have it,never mind what Kettering and Corby think they need to look at their own towns and retail parks.
What the
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 02:19 PMThis would be a massive blow for the local centres. For once i actually agree with a local MP. These type of places have a massive impact on the High St, they are exactly what is taking the life and soul out of the UK, with yet another clone development. The development goes against much of the advice in the recent town centre report to government lead by Mary Portas as well. People like to moan about local councils not doing anything but town centre redevelopment costs a fortune and unless you want council tax to go up a lot it takes time and the right market. Wellingborough has one site that will hopefully come forward soon, Kettering also has sites, these require commercial developers, if this skew bridge development comes forward, they will not touch the town centres for years. I really do not get the attraction of driving out of town to go shopping in glorified car parks with a load of mundane chain shops, which these places are (do not kid yourself its going to be like Bicester village).
SomeOtherGuy92
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:12 PMbuliding this would make a use out of sku bridge which just looks like a tip and give it a use some people something to do and better shops than the ones in rushden which are mostly charity shops or takeaways
il Capitano
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:11 PMwould you really call it success though? its much improved but the town centre is still very unattractive for the most part. it has the feel of a retail park rather than a centre of town.
Mark Dragilocevic
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 07:39 PMAgreed, Aliss. Corby's success is down largely to it's proactive council.
Aliss
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 06:02 PMIf the town centres can't be bothered to put up a fight and do what's needed to draw shops and customers in, then yes, they'll die off as competition that is trying comes along. Frankly, most of our town centres aren't trying. Northampton and Corby are the exceptions. Northampton has the size to attract decent shops by default, and Corby has the luxuries of 1) a large amount of grotty concrete it could pull down and replace, 2) significant grants to do so. 3) most importantly, the community and council will to make the effort.
uncle stinky
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 05:29 PMIt seems odd for a Conservative MP to be arguing for restriction of competition and protection of lame ducks. We are living in strange times.
il Capitano
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 04:23 PMmark, theyre certainly not going to attract new stores if they build a load of units like this on a retail park. i'm sure boom times will reappear in the uk, so until that happens, towns will need to sit tight. corby desperately needed regeneration for years and this wasnt done overnight. you need to wait for investment sometimes.
Rikmeister
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 03:30 PM@5. Agreed and this is why the Corby Town regeneration has been so successful as they took the hard path in knocking down thousands of tons of concrete in the centre to rebuild a strong hub. As for a threat to other towns. Well make sure you attract the shops the other areas do not have. If you have shops the others don't have you will still get the footfall you need. Example is Maplins and PC World in Kettering still attracts people as there are no others local enough.. Simple.
Mark Dragilocevic
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 01:51 PMIf Kettering town centre offered some good competition, it should have no need to feel threatened. Perhaps if it encouraged niche, local businesses and had a genuinely memorable shopping experience, it would be more popular. Sadly Kettering town centre has been ruined by years of inaction and wasteful spending by the Borough Council.
il Capitano
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 01:48 PMMeant A45*
il Capitano
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 01:47 PMThis MUST be turned down. People arent looking at the bigger picture if they think its a good idea to stick a great big retail park on the A43. Shoppers may benefit in terms of convenience but Wellingborough, rushden and kettering town centres are already struggling. These town centres need regenerating. Town centres are where shops and the community hubs should be...not in some field on the A43. You may as well close the town centres up if you are gonna build these big out of town outlets.
Dom Diamond
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 01:40 PMWhy are Rushden TC so in favour of this OOT build? It's not as if the site is really Rushden anyway. It'll knock what's left of the stuffing from Rushden town centre and leave a ghetto. Have they had their heads in the sand for the last 25 years to not see what an OOT retail park does to a local community? Rushden town centre has a load of decrepit old building stock that needs bulldozing and starting again. If the T.C, have't the guts to address this and take the easy way out with an OOT development then they are just lazy. A fancy pavement job is just a glossing over of the problems that the town has.
johnuk
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 01:12 PMWhilst this scheme would be bring additional jobs to Rushden and the surrounding areas, the knock-on effect to Wellingborough and Kettering town centres is too great. The town centres need to be invested in so that they can attract larger high street stores
KEVJS
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:26 PMIt might be bad for Kettering, but it'll be good for Rushden. The comments I've read on here about Kettering town centre, they haven't got anything anyway. Hollobone seems to be sticking up for KBC, when everyone says that they are not doing enough to bring in trade into their town. Rushden NEEDS a development like this.
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