Chapel Hill Farm Development

Jan 25, 2012  Work began clearing the old barns, their concreted floors and the large concrete buried box that once served as a sewage settling tank for the village in c.1900. An immense quantity of very black soil was collected towards the south end of the site. This was probably the cesspit contents reverted to rich soil over 100 years. It was also probably the homes of dozens of rats that formed a rather frightening brief plague in Pond Bank, Chapel Lane and parts of the High Street.

Detailed plans had been lodged against the outline planning application that showed that Matchbox Architects was merely a company used to create schematic layouts - elevations that looked quite good and matched other nearby houses (in Chapel Lane) were in evidence so that aspect of the project seemed promising but there was still some doubt about hazards associated with the junction of the new road (dubbed Mill Stream Close in a PC meeting) and the existing Chapel lane at a point where the latter has a grade of 1:6.

A very large pile of broken concrete was created with a stone crusher. Said crusher closed Chapel Lane for an hour or two one day and was the source of a major news "flash". The stone was situated at the lower end of the future temporary road and therefore much more would
have to be lorried in to make the road. This temporary road, connecting with the Northampton Road was negotiated quite early on to alleviate any disruption to traffic in the village, especially in Chapel Lane. After that  broken concrete was removed a few weeks later there was speculation that the Northampton Road access might not come to pass and even as late as May 2012 there was no encouraging news.

The rest of the year just passes by with no news on the project. The farmer meanwhile resumed use of the upper field for beef but the introduction of store lambs was not attempted.

Feb 2013   The company resubmitted their entire plans (for full planning permission rather than in outline) and managed to increase the average size of the houses by at least half-a-bedroom. They confessed they were experiencing a financial squeeze on the project and needed to maximised value and "turn a nett loss into a hoped for small profit" - these guys! The "accessories" (106 terms) that they agreed to were a Northampton Road access, a pedestrian crossing near the school, a pavement on the north side of the Chapel Lane for pedestrian access and some community support yet to be evaluated but appeared to include both a tennis and badminton court.

July 1, 2013  The first definite signs of building activity appeared with some plant quietly moved in during the weekend. Orbit now have a tiny encampment with an office, a chemical toilet and 3 or so machines. They have begun to level the site and have built some brickwork and stonework samples near to the entrance to the field for the public and councillors to inspect. Note that the camera position for the larger image was in the centre of a cluster of affordable houses - there will be a total of eleven of them.

August 5, 2013  While the profiling of earth levels continues, with the foreman occasionally trying to evict the geese who seem quite defiant, we learn that all may not be well for the immediate future. The developers have never shown any enthusiasm with the idea of a "haulage access road" forged through the top field from the Northampton Road. Despite the need for one, for the sake of less village damage and disruption, being agreed at the outline planning stage and at the stage when Orbit took on the full application it turns out that the NCC Highways department and the Health and Safety Executive have expressed a strong reluctance to sanction the arrangement. With pretty much no consideration for the villagers, the PC have been sent a planning document for the project, as approved by "all" but for the PC's opportunity to comment etc., with the provision of a haulage route already deleted. An apparently independent consultant came along to the last PC meeting and tried to explain the problems. It has to be said that he was totally unconvincing on the point that a Northampton Road haulage access was unfeasible (read "too costly"?). The NCC councillor present at the meeting undertook to arrange a site meeting as soon as possible and we await a final sensible solution. The prospect of hundreds of lorry deliveries via Chapel Lane is thought to be totally unacceptable on account mainly of the narrowness of the roads and the presence of parked cars belonging to residents for whom there are no off-road drives or garages.  September 3   The site meeting was arranged with alacrity and saw the NCC explaining their concerns in a gentle way that did not, after all, preclude haulage access from the Northampton Road.  The earlier introduction of HSE concerns was said to be spurious. An alternative access via the pony paddock off Station Road was tabled and this idea, surprisingly, attained the status of a real option after involving the landowners. The PC thus stand their ground and Orbit considers its options in this battle. November 4 Orbit seemed to be engaged in other matters, for simply no progress has been seen on any issue on this topic, indeed the heavy plant has been removed with what appears to be a substantial amount of earth-moving yet to be done.  Hmm . . .

March 2014  There has been no progress to report - nothing on the Northampton Road access, the Village Zebra Crossing or any sign of returning to create drains and levels. This application may need extending before March 2016 as the work done so far might not constitute "a start to the development".

May 2015  We now hear, through a channel we can firmly believe, that Orbit have become discouraged by the evident costs of the project, especially the need for the access road, and that they are endeavouring to sell the whole plot.