Council planning enforcers launch investigation into activity at site between Kettering and Wellingborough
Council enforcers have launched an investigation into activity at a site not yet granted planning permission in Furnace Lane near Finedon Sidings.
In January, an application was submitted to North Northants Council – the local planning authority – for the building of an ‘agricultural building’ in Furnace Lane.
Applied for in January and validated in March, people had until April 16 to comment on the plans with the standard consultation expiry date set for Friday, May 8, 2026.
Over the Easter weekend in April, neighbours were ‘appalled’ to find trees on the verge had been felled, with hedgerows already grubbed up, cars dumped on one edge of the site and aggregate spread across the field.
Shelley Lawrence-Harris, who has been unable to locate the planning permission site notice, said: “We are disgusted, it’s appalling. It’s an absolute blot on the landscape. Multiple people have complained about the trees and the hedgerows. This field is part of the flood plain, it’s supposed to feed under the road but there’s so much aggregate, it’s blocked.
"It’s a migration route for Great Crested Newts – there’s other ponds nearby put in by Network Rail. It’s a water meadow. Everyone knows it always floods on the road, now it floods up and downstream.”
When the Northants Telegraph visited the site, there was no yellow planning application notice sign visible. Felled trees could be seen at the side of the road and more than a dozen vehicles were parked on one corner of the plot.
Application 26/00174/AGD is for a steel portal frame agricultural building for the storage of ‘agricultural machinery, equipment and materials ancillary to the agricultural holding’.
Documents state the ‘unit’ or site is being ‘actively farmed’ and extends about nine hectares (22.2 acres).
The application states: “At present there is no permanent covered agricultural storage on the unit. The proposed building is reasonably necessary to provide essential covered storage for agricultural machinery, equipment, materials and produce required for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the holding.”
Measuring 6.4m in height to the ridge, plans show the grey panelled building would be located opposite the entrance to a neighbouring business in Furnace Lane.
A spokesman for North Northants Council said: “North Northamptonshire Council are aware of recent activity at this site.
“A site inspection has been undertaken by the planning enforcement team and an assessment of whether there are any breaches of planning law is currently underway.”
Ms Lawrence-Harris said: “I would like it reinstated to its former natural state.”
Applicant Mr Csaba Gudea, who is known as Kobe, spoke to the Northants Telegraph saying he had notified the council of his intention to build the barn and hadn’t heard from them.
He said: “We are going to do a blackberry farm. It’s for storage, washing and packaging. It’s going to take three years to grow the plants. We are going to have car parking.”
As well as the blackberry farm, Mr Gudea said he would use some of the land to farm sheep.
He said the trees that he felled were ‘dry’ and they could be ‘pushed over’ and could have potentially fallen on the road.
Mr Gudea said: “I’m very excited about it – it’s going to be a good thing for the area.”
For full details of the planning application go to North Northants Council’s planning portal and search 26/00174/AGD.