Desborough site previously used by shoe care firm to become homes after council approves plan

A site previously used by the Dunkelman and Son shoe care business will be used for 35 homes after a plan was approved.

Snowdon Homes will build the development on land off Gold Street in Desborough.

The site was used by the firm from 1969 until 2018 when it moved to a purpose-built complex across the town at Magnetic Park.

Desborough’s town council said it worried about “inadequate” access arrangements onto the site for potential residents and about the future of the Manor House, which was previously used for the company’s offices.

The development will be used for 21 three-bedroom, 13 two-bedroom and one four-bedroom homes. Of those, 11 will be classed as affordable.

A total of 10 residents said they objected to the plan for reasons including possible increased traffic and other concerns about traffic. One said they worried that the increased traffic would “invade” her privacy and increase pollution, which would adversely affect her asthma.

North Northamptonshire Council’s Kettering area planning committee approved the application last month.

Another application has been submitted to use the former offices in the Manor House as eight apartments but a decision has not been made on it yet.