Not in OUR back yard
Monster warehouse shocks residents
A COUNCIL gave permission for a huge warehouse to be built after consulting residents in the wrong road.
A 60ft-high metal frame is now being put up just feet away from the back doors of people who had no idea it was happening.
Resident Georgie Wallis said: “If they’d consulted and said ‘we’re going to put a 160,000 sq ft warehouse there that’s going to block your view’ I would have obviously objected to it.”
The warehouse is being built on the site of an old Weetabix factory next to Hooke Close after North Northamptonshire Council had mistakenly consulted people in Hubble Road, which is next to a different Weetabix factory.
But the council says that, despite the blunder, it fulfilled its legal obligations by putting up notices at the site and advertising in the press.
Neighbours Jose Cruz, 64, and his wife Olga, 59, fear their £200,000 semi-detached home is now unsellable due to the warehouse frame looming over their back fence.
Supermarket worker Jose said: “It’s a nightmare, the building will leave our home in complete darkness.”
Operations manager Kieran Joseph, 30, says the building work has already damaged his house. Kieran, who lives with hairdresser Megan Cowan, 28, and their two children, said: “The vibrations have caused a crack in our roof so the kids’ bedroom leaks.
“The council consulted the wrong road. We were just kept in the dark.”
The council approved plans to build the giant warehouse last November.
According to the developer Block Industrial, the eight-acre Earlstree 160 site is due to be completed later this year.
The council’s Conservative leader Jason Smithers said: “We understand the frustration and apologise for the error.
“We can confirm that the permission remains lawful as a notice was placed at the site and a press advert was published – which fulfils the statutory part of the process.
“We are doing all we can to ensure a similar issue doesn’t happen again.”