Welcome to Village Connect

STAUNCH (Save Titchmarsh and Upper Nene Countryside and Habitats) is a campaign group set up by local people to oppose two proposed logistics parks on the green fields between Titchmarsh and Thrapston.  

The campaign began in the summer of 2020 when the Diocese of Peterborough, part of the Church of England, sold a ten-year “development option” on 46 hectares (114 acres) of Glebe Land.  IM Properties have since put forward proposals for a huge logistics park just north of the Haldens Parkways industrial estate, between Ranway and the A605. 

In May 2021, plans for warehouses on a second 71 hectare (175 acre) site, under different ownership, suddenly emerged, from Newlands Developments.  This site, to the immediate east of Haldens Parkway, is about 50% bigger than the Glebe Land and extends almost as far eastwards as The Leys (the road connecting Titchmarsh to the A14).  For clarity STAUNCH is calling this site the Castle Manor Farm site, after the farm that would be covered by the proposed development. 

A map of the Glebe Land (shaded in red) and the adjacent Castle Manor Farm site is shown below.  These show that if both developments went ahead, the existing Halden Parkway industrial estate would quadruple in size.

Neither site has been designated as suitable for any kind of development in the Local Plan.  The warehouses proposed would have a maximum height of 24.5 metres (eighty feet) above ground level – even higher than the current warehouses at Haldens Parkway.

No-one is opposed to all new development in the area, but STAUNCH believes that the countryside between Titchmarsh and Thrapston is simply the wrong place for huge new logistics park.  Apart from the loss of green space, biodiversity, and countryside views, there are concerns about flooding, air pollution, noise pollution, and extra traffic on the A605, the A14, and on roads in and around Thrapston.  While the development might create new jobs, this is an area of high employment so workers would be likely to come by car from a long distance away, only adding to traffic problems.

So far, the STAUNCH campaign has:

• Begun to build links with Thrapston, and other neighbouring villages to seek their support in opposing the plans, and have connected with other communities in Northamptonshire that face huge warehouse proposals on greenfield sites
• Begun to arrange biodiversity surveys of the countryside around Titchmarsh, 
• Lobbied local councillors, and local MP Tom Pursglove, about the impact of these developments and urging the council to look at the bigger picture and review its policies towards warehouse development, and protecting the Nene Valley landscape, as a whole.
• Started raising funds.  Fighting these proposals is likely to incur significant costs.  If you feel that you can contribute in any way, STAUNCH will be very pleased to hear from you. 
• Set up a petition to oppose the plans: www.change.org/saveuppernenevalley

No planning application for either site has yet emerged, but they are likely to be submitted later in 2022.  STAUNCH is keen to ensure the community is well-organised to object to any planning applications that emerge in the months ahead.

Please contact STAUNCH with any questions, suggestions, or offers of help.

www.staunchcampaign.org