Council leader urges people to complain about wrong-street blunder

The view one Hooke Close resident has from their back garden

Angry residents who were not consulted over a warehouse development because council officers went to the wrong street should complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, the council's leader says.

Residents of Hooke Close, Corby, expressed their anger after construction work on the warehouse started in their road.

North Northamptonshire Council's consultation on the scheme was mistakenly carried out in Hubble Road, about half a mile away (750m).

Jason Smithers, leader of the Conservative-controlled council, said: “What I would suggest to those individuals is they contact the Local Government Ombudsman to make their feelings clear and make a complaint.

"The Local Government Ombudsman is there to step in to areas like this and I'd wholeheartedly support that."

Jason Smithers said he would talk to residents on Hooke Close

Mr Smithers said any attempt to appeal against the decision would be “unlikely” because the planning decision was lawful.

The council leader told BBC Radio Northampton he would like to "wholeheartedly apologise for the mistake from our planning department at NNC".

He added the council had now "put measures in place" to ensure future mistakes would be avoided.

'Hole in my ceiling'

Megan Cowan says she's started looking at moving house as she can't take the noise from the warehouse construction

The council approved the new warehouse project on the former Weetabix site in September, as first reported by the Northamptonshire Telegraph.

Megan Cowan, who has lived in Hooke Close for seven years, said she was now considering moving house because of the noise and alleges the building work has damaged her property.

"The vibrations have impacted my house – there's a hole in my ceiling, the plaster has cracked and there’s a hole in my roof," she said.

"I reported it [to the developer Block Industrial] but was told [the damage] was not caused by them."

Ms Cowan says the vibrations from the construction work has damaged her property

The BBC has contacted Block Industrial for a response.