Northampton town centre 'ahead of the curve', says council

A £33m town centre revamp has moved it "ahead of the curve" in its regeneration, a council said.

The project is designed to bring more people into Northampton following the departure of a number of well-known retailers.

Councillors have agreed to finance tackling asbestos in empty department stores so they could be demolished.

But some business owners highlighted the town still faced a battle with out-of-town retail parks.

The most high-profile part of the £33m project so far has involved digging up the market square so water features could be added along with new stalls, improved seating and new paving slabs.

Adrian Barnes, from the contractors Stepnell, said: "It's been really important to everybody that we maintain some of the history of the market whilst blending it with some of the new."

The market square construction is due to finish next year.

Another key part of the project involves demolishing department stores vacated by the likes of BHS and Marks & Spencer so they can be turned into flats and smaller retail units.

The council has agreed this week to finance the asbestos clearance programme that these buildings will have to undergo before they can be removed.

Part of a £9.7m Towns Fund grant will be used to pay for the asbestos work.

Politicians on the ruling Conservative group on West Northamptonshire Council said the project would be a major boost forn the town.

Daniel Lister, cabinet member for town centre regeneration, said: "Although we suffered from the decline of the High Street possibly faster than some places, we also understand that we have to change.

"Now we're ahead of that curve, we're starting to regenerate our High Street and our market square to bring it forward into the 21st century."

The council recognised attracting people into the town centre would continue to be a challenge.

The British Retail Consortium said footfall in High Streets was still down 11.5% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and it believed rising energy bills, inflation and changing shopping habits were all to blame.

Some retailers in Northampton said out-of-town retail parks like the Rushden Lakes shopping and leisure complex had also had an impact.

Emanuele de Palma, who has owned the Caffe d'Italia coffee shop for nearly 20 years, said: "We need a bit more quality shops, for sure.

"Most of them have disappeared because the council invested in Rushden Lakes - it's great it's there but we could have had that here."

Mr Lister accepted he could not guarantee the investment would bring more people into the town centre.

He said: "Our job is not to force people to come into town, our job is to make people want to come into town."

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