Caffeine boost as Kettering council approves town’s 11th Costa

Kettering planning committee gave the drive-thru at the Cransley Park development off Northampton Road the go-ahead on Tuesday night.

The new food and beverage stop will create 14 full-time jobs and have 36 parking spaces. The site was previously earmarked for a hotel but this plan has since been dropped.

There are currently five Costa Coffee stores in Kettering with stores found in High Street, Gold Street, Kettering General Hospital, the Odeon Cinema in Pegasus Court and a recently-opened drive-thru in Carina Road.

There are also five Costa Expresses at the Bignal Court Co-Op, Windmill Avenue Tesco Express, London Road Co-Op, Carina Road Tesco Extra and Barton Road Shell garage.

Cllr Jim Hakewill, ward councillor for the area, spoke out against the development because of the impact it would have on the row of nearby cottages.

But John Wiggins, who was speaking on behalf of the applicant, said the highways authority had no objections to the plan and said surveys had found that 93.7 per cent of the traffic which will visit the coffee stop is also on the A43 road network.

Cllr Lesley Thurland said it was good to hear that a possible rear access road for the cottages was still on the table.

Plans for 31 flats in the former telephone exchange in Lower Street, Kettering, were due to be looked at but had to be adjourned to a later date because the planning meeting ran out of time.