University development plans progress to the next stage

The University of Northampton has exciting proposals to build a new Waterside Campus in Northampton’s Waterside Enterprise Zone. To further develop this flagship project, Northampton Borough Councils’ Planning Committee reviewed two planning applications at yesterday’s committee meeting.

The University of Northampton made some minor amendments to its outline planning application for the development of the Waterside Campus situated in the Avon/Nunn Mills area. The initial application was presented to Planning Committee in December 2013, where it was unanimously approved by Councillors. Since then, detailed design work has necessitated a number of minor changes to the scheme. These amendments were submitted to Northampton Borough Council for consideration and unanimously approved the application.

The next stage for the development of the Waterside Campus will be to develop detailed design proposals for the University buildings and landscaping options. It is the University’s aspirations to share the details of these proposals with staff and students, local residents, community groups and Northampton Borough Council through a series of public consultation events in autumn 2014.

An application detailing plans for the redevelopment of the current Park Campus site, situated on Boughton Green Road, Kingsthorpe were also considered during the meeting.

The Planning Committee reviewed and approved the proposal to make this site available for redevelopment as housing.

Nick Petford, Vice Chancellor for the University of Northampton said: “The University are pleased that the Planning Committee approved the amendments to the Waterside Campus plans. The development of this new campus will transform the brown field site into a vibrant state-of-the-art campus, with excellent facilities for our staff, students and the local community. The Committee also approved to the redevelopment of the Park Campus area scheduled for 2018, once the University has vacated the site.

“The University has worked closely with our local partners at Northampton Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council, the Highways Agency; to develop an outline planning submission that addresses local concerns in relation to future infrastructure developments and traffic management.

“We are pleased that these two applications progressed successfully, the University will now build momentum with the development of more detailed plans which will be shared later in the year.”

Councillor David Mackintosh, leader of Northampton Borough Council, said: “The new campus development is enormously important for our Waterside Enterprise Zone.

“It will help create closer links between the University of Northampton and firms in the area, while delivering a steady stream of quality graduates to help business thrive.

“The University already produces some of the most employable graduates in the country and this position can only be strengthened through new cutting-edge facilities.”