Expansion of Rushden Lakes shopping centre approved by local planners

Rushden Lakes will host eight restaurants and a lakeside visitor centre

A £140m shopping and leisure complex in Northamptonshire is to be larger than first proposed.

LXB Retail Properties, developing the Rushden Lakes, has won permission for a new hotel and leisure club on the site.

The expanded scheme given the go ahead by planners at East Northamptonshire District Council on Wednesday also increases retail space by 3.6%.

Kettering Borough Council objected to the increase in retail use but declined to comment on the expanded scheme.

A public inquiry in 2013 heard concerns about the development's impact on shops in nearby town centres.

Work on building the main Rushden Lakes shopping complex, given permission in June 2014 by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, has already started.