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County will offer room for London commuters
Celebrities and cartoon pigeons wanting to leave the capital behind will be part of an eye-catching campaign to encourage Londoners to move to north Northamptonshire.
The controversial 660,000 scheme which promotes the area as North Londonshire will begin on Monday with a four-week taster campaign in the capital.
It will feature radio advertisements presented by comedienne and author Sandi Toksvig, tube station posters showing pictures of crushed Londoners and an online marketing campaign including an internet cartoon.
It has been launched by the North Northants Development Company and is
designed to encourage people to move to the county, bringing their skills and businesses with them.
Development company director of investment and marketing Nick Bolton said: "We're not promoting this as an area where people can buy a cheap house and commute to London, we're showing Northamptonshire is a great place to live."
Despite uncertainty about the county's future growth under the new Government, Mr Bolton believes the campaign is essential.
He said: "Houses are being built and there are developments with planning permission in place.
"We've had housing growth and we need to attract more investment. We should be shouting about the opportunities here."
When initial details of the campaign first emerged in February, it was predicted it would cost 1.3 million.
The latest figure of 600,000 covers its cost in 2010-2011.
Mr Bolton said: "The 1.3 million figure was for a longer campaign.
"We have plans in place for a long-term campaign but it's too early to say what's going to happen further down the line yet."
The campaign has been funded by 480,000 from the private sector. The remainder of the money is from the public sector and will be
specifically used to help individual towns develop their own marketing materials, including websites and brochures.
The future for development companies is also uncertain under the new Government but NNDC believes its track record of attracting private investment will stand it in good stead.
Mr Bolton said: "These things are up in the air until we know what's happening with public sector spending. We believe we're operating in the way the Government wants – in partnership with the public and private sectors and with a high degree of private investment.
"We're not saying that things won't change, but there's a job to be done and we're pleased to do it."
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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