Daventry town choked by traffic

Daventry is a small market town in Northamptonshire with a population of 20,000, surrounded by unspoilt countryside.

The proposed developments will double the population to 40,000 and the town centre will not be able to provide sufficient parking spaces to meet demand. (Daventry District Council's own consultants predict a shortfall of thousands of parking spaces).

Town centre parking (currently free) will inevitably then be rationed by charging which will further discourage people from using the shops in town. At the same time the shops on the new estates will be easily accessible and the Flore bypass (if it is built) will bring the Northampton supermarkets within easier reach.

Daventry will therefore be choked to death by traffic and marginalised as a local shopping centre.

Proposed Monorails and Driverless Pods are desperate and desperately unrealistic attempts to resolve this predicted problem. Most people will simply not shop unless they can park next to their supermarket for the most obvious of practical reasons. Anyone who thinks otherwise has their head in the clouds. Hello Chris Millar are you up there! Make your voice known and vote in our survey

Developments will lead to high unemployment in Daventry

Since Daventry is relatively isolated the 10,000 homes planned will need the creation of about 23,000 jobs in Daventry. There are only 30,000 employed in Daventry at present (mainly in lower paid service roles) so this would require the number of jobs in this small market town to nearly double . There is absolutely no evidence that this is remotely possible and nor is there enough employment land to make it so. The Government don’t want developments which cause people to commute to work by car because of the traffic problems this causes and the contribution this makes to “Global Warming”. Using the government's own definition these plans are completely unsustainable. These developments will therefore lead to intense competition for local jobs and a high level of local unemployment.

;; COMMUTING CHAOS

;; POLARISING THE POPULATION

Since sufficient jobs cannot be provided in Daventry to meet the needs of the extra population (see above) an additional 20,000 cars will hit the road each morning heading for nearby towns.

Those from the Croudace “Churchfields” development will mainly travel through country rat runs choking the narrow roads and villages such as Long Buckby, Whilton, Brington, and Nobottle. Others will travel through Weedon and Flore multiplying their traffic problems hugely.

The Flore Bypass is being waived about like a carrot to placate these villages but it is unlikely to be built because the government is unsympathetic to traffic problems created by poor planning (locating developments remote from jobs).

The Danetree Village proposals are essentially for the creation of a housing estate with a population of about 13,000 people (5,150 houses) living in isolation of Daventry Town and also living in isolation of all other Daventry urban populations. The only direct connection between this development and Daventry itself will be via an industrial estate (“The Marches”) and no direct connections exist between the proposed estate and any other population areas.

The presence of Borough Hill separating the development from Daventry will create both a physical and psychological barrier reinforcing the individual identity of the new population. Also the relative size of the new population (13,000) compared to that of Daventry Town (20,000) will ensure the development of an isolated and separate community.