That is a picture of Raunds; the agricultural city the place I’ve lived for half my life.
In passing, you may see Stanwick Lakes, my native birdwatching patch, to the west of the A45, on the left hand aspect of the picture. And the B663 is the highway by which I left house to move in direction of The Lodge, Sandy, Beds whereas I labored on the RSPB.
The inhabitants now’s over 10,000 and rising in contrast (10,233 in 2021 census) with 20+ years in the past when it was 8,380 (1991 census) – click on right here. That’s a 22% enhance in 20 years, in contrast with the nationwide (English) total inhabitants change of c16%.
A few of that change has been by means of brownfield improvement – outdated shoe works and the RPC Containers manufacturing facility – however most just lately the rise has been on greenfield websites (proven in crimson on the map).
Via the identical interval, the world outlined in pink, Warth Park (as in industrial park) has been constructed. I can’t take a look at that space with out considering ‘Why aren’t there photo voltaic panels on all that roof area? And why wasn’t {that a} situation of planning approval?’.
The pink and crimson areas are larger than the footprint of the remainder of Raunds, ie the city has doubled in dimension in 20 years as a result of housing and warehouses, and continues to be rising.
The yellow boundary exhibits an space that’s anticipated to hunt planning approval for 400+ homes and which hasn’t gone down too properly with some locals. The factors made on this – click on right here -1500-signature petition are all good ones, though I smile, ruefully, to see that wildlife is dragged into public debate largely when it may be used to struggle improvement.
There isn’t a planning proposal however the builders are already working arduous to melt up native opinion. The considerations about site visitors are properly made – anybody travelling on this space is aware of how typically one is sitting nonetheless in site visitors. So too are the flooding and pressure on amenities factors. I’ll have an interest to see what types of homes are deliberate. I’d be amazed if there’s a lot in the way in which of social housing.
However builders really feel they’ve been given a inexperienced mild by our authorities to earn money from concrete pouring anyplace. They need to really feel that they’re crusing their treasure galleons in a good wind. We’ve got a unitary authority which is Reform – the populist transfer could be to show down this improvement. We’ll see.