Plan to replace supermarket with homes is rejected

The old Co-op in Corby town centre has been derelict since 2016

Plans to turn a former supermarket site into a 150-home development have been turned down.

At a meeting on Wednesday, a planning committee at North Northamptonshire Council rejected plans to build the development on the former Co-op site in Alexandra Road, Corby.

Developer Glenrowan Homes had pitched the project as a "high-quality, multi-storey building".

Planning officers recommended the proposals be approved, but neighbouring residents raised concerns about parking, noise and pressure on local amenities.

The plan attracted 43 letters of objection, including one from Labour's Corby MP Lee Barron.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said that one resident told the committee: "We all need enough space to live and protect our general health and well-being.

"In established inner cities where space is severely limited there might be a need to squeeze in cramped high rise developments like this, but in Corby this is not the case."

The project envisioned buildings reaching up to six storeys along Alexandra Road

Labour councillor Alison Dalziel, who was on the committee, said the site needed regeneration because it was an "absolute tip".

But she struggled to name any other development in Corby that was six storeys high, and said: "To have something as imposing and as dense as this looks - I just don’t feel that it’s the right thing for what is actually a quite small piece of land."

She added: "To think of 350 to 400 people living on that piece of land just, to me, does not make sense."

Patrick Boyle, director of Glenrowan Homes, said: "Corby needs housing.

"We’ve got people in our office who commute daily from Derby because they can’t find rented accommodation.

"We share the vision of the council in that a signature building should be built on that site."

As part of its refusal, the committee cited overdevelopment, high density and the likely impact on neighbouring residents.

Nearby resident Theresa Bannigan said: "We are extremely pleased that the Planning Committee recognised our objections for this particular design.

We hope that any future plans for this site are mindful of the reasons why this proposal was rejected."