How Wellingborough's historic tree-lined avenue reached the end of the line

A councillor who opposed the planning application that rubber-stamped the destruction of 61 trees has spoken of his horror and disappointment.

Jonathan Ekins, the current mayor of Wellingborough and councillor on the former Borough Council of Wellingborough, was a member of the planning committee when plans for the £1bn Stanton Cross development were debated.

The 11-man committee was split when voting to pass the vast document for approval but the upshot was that the historic tree-lined gateway that has welcomed locals and visitors to Wellingborough will be bulldozed next week.

Back in December 2015, just before Christmas, 10 councillors gathered to wade through the massive planning application – a meeting Cllr Ekins remembers clearly.

He said: “I was horrified. We had loads and loads of plans and it didn't seem logical. I felt that we didn't have enough time. We had such a short time. I did speak out, I proposed a deferral but the vote went against me.

“If you look at the drawings it doesn't show full size trees. The 11 trees on the map meant nothing. But it's almost put through under the radar. There's so many drawings and new drawings, you, as members have to pick up."

Present at the committee meeting that evening were councillors Peter Morrall (chairman), Malcolm Ward (vice-chairman), Tony Aslam, Paul Bell, Jonathan Ekins, Martin Griffiths, Graham Lawman, Tom Lloyd, Tim Maguire and Andrew Scarborough. Clive Hallam had sent his apologies.

It was recommended by the unelected council officers that the committee delegation be given to the head of planning and local development to approve, subject to appropriate conditions, and following the completion of a section 106 planning agreement.

Minutes of the meeting show that Cllr Ekins proposed that the application be deferred for further information (seconded by Cllr Aslam). With five for and five against, the chairman Cllr Morrall used his casting vote and the amendment allowing more time was voted down.

The committee was invited to ‘determine the application’.

Once again it was proposed by Cllr Ekins – this time seconded by Cllr Lawman – that the application be deferred for further information.

Once again there were five votes in favour and five votes against, and once again the Cllr Morrall used his casting vote and the amendment was beaten.

Cllr Ekins said: “We were in the middle pushing through everything for Stanton Cross. The loss of so many trees and amenity land – I proposed to defer, I thought I'm not voting for it.

"The head of planning at the time lived out of town. They were looking at drawings, looking at one-dimensional drawings. I don’t know if they went down (to London Road) or not, but to them it's just a blob on a map. In my opinion that's how it is all this damage was done.”

As a sop to Cllr Ekins, a liaison committee was promised as a go-between keeping councillors informed as the officers and the developers carried out the reserved matters (passed and agreed plans). But Cllr Ekins says he never heard of the liaison group.

He said: "The liaison committee was never set up as far as I know.”

Cllr Martin Griffiths said: “I can't speak for all the members of the committee but, from my recollection, the committee were aware that some trees towards the end of The Walks – approximately 12 – would be lost to deliver this strategic route, essential to delivery of the Stanton Cross Development.

“Approving the route would also relieve the traffic concerns of residents in the Senwick Road and the eastern part of town, and of course at that time the committee were mindful of ‘delivering infrastructure ahead of development ‘.

“The loss of so many trees was never part of the planned roundabout improvement that were essential not only to relief a bottleneck but also to help transform the overall public realm of the embankment area something that was progressed by the development committee.

“It is regrettable that the developer along with the new unitary (North Northants Council) and town council were not proactive in sharing a vision for the area and instead have allowed the developer to plough ahead with the destruction of so many beautiful trees. The former borough council and its planning team would have handled this far better and more sympathetically.

“It is also worth remembering that the Borough Council of Wellingborough refused a planning application by Wellingborough School that compromised The Walks over a decade ago and lost under appeal.”

On Monday work will start to clear the 61 trees to allow a new an 18-month roundabout and road widening. The Embankment will be turned into a dual carriageway leading to Stanton Cross. The interchange will use land either side of The Embankment – the ‘horse’ field and the riverside car park will provide land.

Cllr Ekins said: “Half of the horse field will go and half of the Embankment car park. They say they are going to mitigate it and make access but where are you going to park? You can't park on a dual carriageway.

"When you chop down a tree that’s 100-years-old you’re not going to get it back. We're destroying the town's life. I want to have a town that we're proud of. We're taking away the amenities, all the amenities we had for free. We had for free the walks and the Embankment. How can you take out an amenity that's that's been there for hundreds of years and move it two miles down the river? You can't.”

The Stanton Cross development was originally granted outline planning permission in 2008 for mixed-use development including the construction of 3,200 new homes as part of a ‘comprehensive and integrated sustainable’ urban extension to the east of Wellingborough (WP/2004/0600).

Cllr David Brackenbury, North Northamptonshire Council’s executive member for growth and regeneration, said: “Part of the delivery of the Stanton Cross development is to provide the necessary highways infrastructure.

“To bring forward this infrastructure it is necessary to carry out work to divert utilities and, in order to do this, remove a number of mature lime trees.

“North Northamptonshire Council is bound by the planning permission already granted by the former Borough Council of Wellingborough and is therefore unable to prevent the removal of the trees.

“The council is committed to working collaboratively in supporting the continued development of Stanton Cross and will seek to secure a binding commitment from the developer to replace all trees lost as a part of these necessary road infrastructure works.

“The council takes its commitment to the green environment and sustainability very seriously and will always seek restitution to mitigate new development.”

A spokesperson for Stanton Cross said: “The plans have been approved by North Northamptonshire Council and the work set to start on Monday is being carried out in consultation with a team of ecologists and arboriculturists to ensure it is done in the right way.

“Where possible we will seek to minimise the number of trees removed, and those that are removed will then be used in some way in the local area, such as providing hibernaculas, fencing, planting bed mulch, and featuring in the natural play areas in the development.

“These essential works are part of the approved plans to support the delivery of Stanton Cross and enhance Wellingborough’s infrastructure which, as well as road improvements, have also included developing the railway station.

“The wider environmental work at Stanton Cross has already seen 390 new trees planted last summer as part of the Queen’s Canopy initiative, extensive improvement work on the River Ise, and a new 44-acre Town Park, with plans for a further 71-acre Country Park.”