Town turns out at meeting about the future of Wellingborough's Jacksons Lane car park amid ‘worry and confusion’ over possible sale
Dozens of local residents attended a meeting to discuss and raise their concerns over the potential sale of Jacksons Lane car park in Wellingborough.
Yesterday’s (Tuesday, March 3) extraordinary meeting of Wellingborough Town Council was called to discuss the ‘failure’ for North Northants Council (NNC) to provide a public consultation into the potential sale of Jacksons Lane car park, a long sought-after proposal which has since been revived.
At the meeting held at Swanspool Pavilion, members of the public and councillors were able to share their thoughts and raise concerns.
The public gallery stretching around the hall was packed with concerned locals, most of whom are concerned about the potential loss of parking provision at the six-acre site.
North Northants Council says a condition of any sale is that it will retain ‘some public parking provision’, however at this stage cannot confirm where it would be or what the plans would entail until it has explored the market.
Freddie Harris of the Wellie Wombles said NNC ‘should have been talking to us, the community’, and Patricia Raymond, a regular worshipper at All Saints Church said the car park is ‘an essential part of daily life for the people in Wellingborough.’
Andrew Jones, director of Wellingborough African Caribbean Association (WACA), which backs directly onto Jacksons Lane, said: "As a local resident and business owner, I believe this car park is vital to our community and its removal would bring many negative consequences.
“This car park is essential for the town centre.”
Cllr Marion Turner-Hawes (Independent) said she was ‘dismayed’ at the move which she believes should be a ‘participation sport’ with the community, and Cllr Raz Koriya (Conservative) believes the proposal could be a ‘red herring’ for an eventual introduction of parking charges.
Cllr Kelly Duddridge (Labour) believes the move has stirred up ‘a lot of worry and confusion’ among locals, many of whom use the car park to access town centre services such as the United Reform Church, WACA,and town centre shops.
Cllr Gavin Beales (Reform), who serves on both NNC as ward councillor for the area as well as on Wellingborough Town Council, said the proposal is ‘still very early in the process.’
Leader of North Northants Council Cllr Martin Griffiths sat in the public gallery behind Cllr Beales and was present ‘mainly to listen’, however tried to reiterate to attendees the move was to ‘look at the options and have something Wellingborough deserves.’