Towcester Liberal Democrat Town Cllr, Chris Lofts recently raised a series of questions over South Northamptonshire Council’s office move and the impact on Towcester, set out in a letter to the local press. Cllr Lofts said:
“Following widespread public concerns over SNC’s proposed office move from the existing site at Springfields to the Moat Lane Development in the centre of Towcester, the Council has recently devoted a four page centre spread in their own newspaper – SNC Review – to justify the move. The publication openly admits that the move is primarily ‘driven by the need to save money’. The document sets out the advantages for South Northamptonshire as a whole but largely ignores the key issues that have caused concerns in Towcester namely:
· The Moat Lane Development has been championed as a regeneration project that will attract new employment into Towcester.
· The proposed SNC office relocation adds no new jobs for Towcester.
· SNC relocated to the very heart of Towcester will add to already congested traffic and associated air and noise pollution.
· There was a total lack of public consultation over the proposed move and even now there is no attempt to ask the people of Towcester, or the rest of the district, if they agree.
· SNC is now seriously considering merging services with Cherwell District Council that will inevitably result in reductions in staff levels. Is now the time to be deciding on the headquarters location?
The coalition Government is, rightly, introducing and encouraging ‘localism’ and ‘big society’ which encourages local decision making and increases the involvement of local people in shaping and supporting their local community. SNC appears to be following a completely different agenda by implementing an unpopular headquarters move based on ‘the need to save money’. Towcester will be blighted by a rash decision made in haste leaving the town to cope with a lost opportunity to attract new employment into the last major town centre site.
Many objectors have commented that the five elected councillors representing Towcester should do just what it says on the tin – represent the people of Towcester. Towcester does not support the office move so why are our councillors ignoring the views of Towcester residents?
What do the people of Towcester have to do to persuade our local councillors and SNC to listen to our concerns? Local elections are due in May 2011 perhaps that will be the only time Towcester will have an effective voice!”
Commenting Scott Colins, Parliamentary spokesman for South Northamptonshire said “After almost 12 months of this issue hanging over the people on Towcester, and wider South Northants, the Councillors on South Northants Council still seem completely blind to the failure of their argument to convince the people of Towcester as to the benefits of this move. As Chris has pointed out, alongside many other both individually or as part of Towcester Residents Unite, the rationale for the move just does not add up and no amount of ignorance on the Councils part will make that go away”
The view across the Moat Lane area
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