WCC/005
Closed for Business?
Well it could be the headline for Wellingborough if we allow our town to fall foul to the growth within other parts of the county!
At this week’s Development Committee meeting of the Wellingborough Councillors, it was decided that very few new houses would be commissioned over the next 10-25 year period. What a disaster this would be for Wellingborough.
I pose the question to everyone within our borough from the general public to business owners and shop owners. What will happen when your children grow up, where will they work, were will they live and were will they shop? Without housing and attracting new people to our area, we will have no jobs and certainly no growth in shopping. Even rail and bus operators will see no increase in demand and run weaker services.
We are at the hub of the one of the best road networks in the country and, only 65 miles from the capital city and offering major routes to Cambridge, Oxford and Birmingham. Why then are we not taking this into account and keeping pace with the needs of the country. We once had a major shoe industry and lost this to lower cost manufacturing abroad. The UK is in a really good position currently to row in manufacturing and Wellingborough should take heed of this and run with the pack.
The headline on Wednesday’s Evening Telegraph said ‘Open for Business’ as Northamptonshire was bucking the trend in business growth. Well without additional housing and trading estates we will not see Wellingborough as part of this exciting growth. I have so often heard people saying that there are no shops in Wellingborough. Despite this being untruthful as we have pretty well all the shops one needs for most purposes, many will close if not supported and this support will dwindle without future growth.
Having lived in Wellingborough for more than 30 years, I would ask ET readers to get behind this growth for Wellingborough and make sure we are not to be the poor relation to surrounding towns such as Rushden, Kettering, Corby and Northampton. It is time to tell your Council what you think they should be doing after all we pay them to do it!
Don’t let Wellingborough fall into a terminal decline.
Alan Piggott – Chamber President