popcawn April 2025
CA-WN is not a political group and The CA-WN Exchange is not a political platform. But CA-WN cannot stay silent at election time.
Our elected representatives hold all the levers of power essential for delivering on CA-WN’s mission: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from West Northamptonshire and preparing for life with changing weather patterns.
Over the next four years decisions taken by Councillors and staff at West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) will literally cement the district’s future, not least because of development proposals that will come before Planning Committees thanks to its keystone position in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc1.
But first we suggest that Council Planners need to review their attitude to a logistics sector that at every motorway junction has converted open countryside that contributes no cash to council coffers into commercial, business rates-generating developments. Planning Committees need to look beyond the typical ‘more jobs and money’ arguments that support applications for new distribution developments.
In decades past, demand for warehousing in West Northamptonshire had been driven by assumptions that 90% of the UK population were within a four-hour drive. That was before freight operators recognised that delivery service levels were being heavily impacted by traffic congestion on our overloaded and accident-prone road network. Though there are still many schemes in the pipeline, speculative warehouse developers are finding it difficult to sign up tenants when more attractive distribution centres are being brought to market elsewhere.
Rather than continuing to encourage the construction of massive sheds, officers' efforts might better focus on attracting development opportunities that bring manufacturing innovation to our area, with its strong tradition of making and selling things. Plan instead for more productive use of employment spaces that provide higher skilled, better paid jobs. Local towns need a workforce able to buy the relatively highly-priced West Northamptonshire homes2.
As a Local Planning Authority, WNC has felt powerless to impose conditions on the quality of new homes. That should change with the introduction of new homes and buildings standards. Future housing estates can be required to incorporate renewable energy technologies, use water more efficiently and to prioritise walking and cycling over private car use. A new Local Plan3 might even encourage the populist-derided 15 minute communities, where all facilities and transport links are never more than a few minutes walk away.
As the image above shows, there was very little reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels around Paris until Mayor Hidalgo’s green initiatives took effect in 2023. If there was an equivalent overview of the air across West Northamptonshire it would still be mostly reds and browns.
French opposition politicians had used the familiar 'war on motorists' theme to campaign against the introduction of car-free zones and higher parking charges for SUVs in Paris. Proposals to limit speeds on roads were attacked. Despite all that politically-driven clamour, Parisians today have cleaner air and streets enjoyed by cyclists and pedestrians.
On many levels of course we cannot compare West Northamptonshire to Paris. But is it wishful thinking to have an election outcome that delivers an equivalent, visionary leadership team of Councillors? Whatever May’s result, CA-WN will continue to work constructively with our new Council.
Our best wishes to all candidates who share the views of the very ordinary people who populate CA-WN, who join our public meetings, who come together at our Climate Cafes and who read these pages.
References
1 The Oxford-Cambridge Arc
2 Housing Prices in West Northamptonshire
3 New Local Plan for West Northamptonshire