Council to look at controversial £1.3m Rothwell traveller stop plan again after decision called-in

A decision to move forward with a £1.3m plan to turn a Rothwell green space into a temporary traveller stopping site will be looked at again.

Eight opposition councillors have successfully applied to have North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) move for land off junction 3 of the A14 called-in.

The council’s monitoring officer, Adele Wylie, ruled that three of their arguments over whether the plan represented best value met the test for it to be looked at by the council’s scrutiny management board on January 18. They are that alternative sites, and the process of discounting them, were not considered by the executive committee, that full borrowing costs were not set out in a report and that the decision should have been considered as part of the Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan.

Cllr Jim Hakewill (Ind, Rothwell and Mawsley), who previously said he is horrified by the plan, said: “It is deeply concerning that on December 21 the council's main committee approved £1.3m to be spent on this project along with immediately preparing a planning application and within five days the decision was stopped and is to be referred to the scrutiny board.

"I am so pleased that I was able to gain councillors’ support to call the decision in, as it clearly was not giving best value to the community.

"I am looking forward to seeing the issue of gypsy and traveller provision considered properly across all of north Northamptonshire rather than just randomly targeting this green space near Rothwell.

"It is all about doing things properly when spending our council tax and again on this occasion the executive committee have ignored the community's wishes.”

The scrutiny management board can refer the decision back to the executive committee, setting out their concerns, refer the matter to full council after seeking advice or decide to take no action at all.

Cllr Hakewill said he expects the decision to eventually be rejected and the consideration of potential need and sites to be carried out in the spring across the whole of the council’s area.

At last month’s meeting NNC’s ruling executive recommended that the project is added to their 2024/25 capital programme and that a £1.3m budget was established for it.

Michael Blissett, who lives in Harrington, called the proposals “flawed and poorly thought out”.

There was anger in 2022 when the council said the land was suitable for a temporary stopping place and applied for Government funding to cover the costs of creating 10 pitches there, only to be unsuccessful. They are now planning to stump up for it themselves.

Currently there are no stopping places for travellers passing through the NNC area. A temporary stopping place would provide an area for groups of travellers passing through the council’s area to stop for a period of up to 28 days. Police have powers to direct traveller groups to go to the temporary stopping place.

NNC have said that nothing has been confirmed or decided and that any site would be subject to planning permission and a full public consultation.

Bought in 2017 by Kettering Borough Council, the land by is bounded by the A14 dual carriageway and former Lamport road, which is now used as a path by residents.

Cllr Hakewill said it is a ‘beautiful’ nature site that has been left unkempt but is full of wildlife and he wants it to be a pocket park instead.

If the bid to turn it into a traveller stopping site gets planning approval by September the development could be completed by autumn 2025.

A North Northamptonshire Council spokesman said they were unable to comment on the call-in.