Government planning inspector to decide fate of controversial Kettering town centre apartment building

A decision on whether a contested fifth floor of a block of flats in Kettering town centre can stay will be made by the Government' s planning inspectorate.

The building was the subject of an official stop notice after an extra storey had been added, in contravention of the planning permission.

Passers-by have reported seeing workers on site recently and progress on a controversial fifth floor has been made with a new course of large sand-coloured blocks.

Michigan Construction Ltd had been granted planning permission to develop the site next to the Prince of Wales pub in Job’s Yard, managing to secure approval for a four-storey building for nine flats.

But in the summer of 2021, builders started work to add a fifth floor, in a breach of the approved planning permission, leading to a temporary stop notice being issued by North Northamptonshire Council in August.

After that notice expired workers were spotted on site again in September – leading to a second stop notice being issued and attached to the site's railings.

The company was then ordered to ‘remedy the breach of planning control’ by ‘permanently' removing the fifth storey within two months. But that has not happened.

Michigan Construction has a base in Robinson Way, on the Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering, but the company office is registered in Towcester and is owned by Marcus Fielding.

The first stop notice had stated that the builder was “to cease all the activity – construction activity associated with the building of a five-storey block of flats – other than limited work required to make this site safe,” adding the reason for the notice being issued as “a fifth floor is being constructed unlawfully following the grant of planning permission under KT/2019/0908 which was for four storeys only.”

Planning permission for the Job’s Yard development of nine apartments – six one-bedroom and three two-bedroom – had been granted after an appeal to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate on January 26, 2021, overturning a decision made by the then Kettering Borough Council.

The planning permission appeal was granted for a four-storey apartment block with a stepped profile to set the upper storeys further from the adjacent buildings but a fifth storey was begun.

An appeal lodged on November 5, 2021 with the Planning Inspectorate (APP/M2840/C/21/3283460) with a questionnaire from the Local Planning Authority (North Northamptonshire Council) due 14 days later. Statement and interested party comments were due by December 17, with Michigan Construction Ltd and North Northamptonshire Council's final comments to be submitted by January 10, this year.

If the appeal is lost then the fifth floor will have to be removed.

The Planning Inspectorate is 'not yet decided' on the appeal.