There's still time to have your say on the future of Burton Latimer

21st January 2020

Kettering Borough Council (KBC) is asking for views on its Site Specific Part 2 Local Plan (SSP2). This 226-page (snappily-titled!) document is intended to guide future development in Kettering Borough up to 2031 – and this highly-condensed summary outlines the main implications for Burton Latimer.

Comments on the plan can be submitted via KBC’s online portal, or by completing a form and sending it by post (see ‘how to give your views’ below). Either way, the deadline for responses is Wednesday, 12th February 2020.

What’s this all about?

SSP2 follows on from the adoption of the North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy (JCS) in July 2016, and sets out plans for how the strategy for Kettering Borough (including Burton Latimer) will be implemented. Broadly speaking, the document:

identifies where KBC envisages land for housing, employment, recreation and other uses will be allocated;
designates historically and visually important local green space and identifies green infrastructure corridors;
identifies potential sites for town centre redevelopment and environmental improvements in the Market Towns;
contains policies, such as protection of local services and facilities, open space and design principles, which will be used when assessing planning applications.

The vision for Burton Latimer

The SSP2 envisages an improved range of shops and facilities to meet the needs of Burton Latimer’s growing population, and a more attractive town centre for people to visit.

Key principles for development of the town centre include: respecting the historic character of the town; supporting small-scale retail units; providing scope for more professional and business services; sensitive residential development (including affordable housing); and crime prevention.

Town Centre

The proposals outlined for Burton Latimer aim to enhance the town centre’s overall appearance by redeveloping existing sites and making sure that there are no large areas of vacant land.

Four areas with opportunities for redevelopment within the town centre and four environmental improvements have been identified:

Town centre redevelopment

Reconfiguration & upgrading of Churchill Way car park
Refurbishment of the Churchill Way retail parade
Development of the Churchill Way / High Street ‘backlands’ area
Redevelopment at 151 High Street

Environmental improvements

The approach to the town from Kettering Road – to create a strong ‘gateway’;
High Street – such as making it more pedestrian-friendly, reducing traffic speed and changes to on-street parking;
The southern approach to the town centre – to create a stronger ‘gateway’;
The Millennium Garden area – to create a higher quality open space.

Housing

The SSP2 supports the principle that any new housing development should protect and take inspiration from Burton Latimer’s historic and natural assets.

The 2016 North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy called for 1,180 new dwellings to be provided in Burton Latimer between 2011 and 2031 – and the town has already delivered a significant number of houses towards this target.

The SSP2 identifies three housing sites to meet the remaining requirement, for which planning permission in some cases has already been granted. These are:

Up to 69 dwellings at Bosworth’s Garden Centre
Up to 7 dwellings on land adjacent to The Bungalow, Higham Road
Up to 22 dwellings on land to the West of Kettering Road

Employment

The SSP2 states that enough employment opportunities exist within the town to provide employment land, through planned development or windfall development within existing employment areas. In view of this, the plan does not include any additional employment allocations in Burton Latimer.