Corby residents fear safeguards ignored by warehouse plan
Residents have raised concerns that the demolition of a warehouse has been "waved through without basic safeguards" by a council.North Northamptonshire Council said it was investigating "at pace" after homeowners complained of procedural mistakes made by the Reform UK-controlled authority over the demolition of the Avarto warehouse on Earlstrees Road in Corby.Developer Arvato - which acquired the building after it was sold by Avon last May - has been approached for comment.It comes soon after warehouse construction began on another street in Corby when the council mistakenly carried out its consultation on the scheme on the wrong road.
In February, people living on Hooke Close described their outrage after construction work on the warehouse started in their road.The council's consultation on the scheme was mistakenly carried out in Hubble Road, about half a mile away.As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the same group of homeowners said people living near the Earlstrees Road site had not been sent a works notification letter from Arvato, which is legally required before any demolition works can begin.The building is next door to a former Weetabix factory, which was unlawfully granted planning permission to be replaced with a warehouse.
Jamie Hume, spokesperson for the residents' group, said: "We are not anti-development, we are anti-doing-things-backwards."You don't knock down a building before you know you can rebuild and you don't ignore protected wildlife and public health just because its quicker."The council promised change after the former Weetabix factory. Today we see the same shortcuts, the same lack of transparency, the same disregard for common sense".North Northamptonshire Council's executive director, George Candler, said: "We will respond to the residents as soon as we can to update them on the situation."
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