Following the visit by our local MP, Chris Heaton-Harris, on 14th Jan 2022, he confirmed his 100% support for the East Farndon Parish Council (EFPC) objections to these developments.
He made his views known on his official social media and contacted Historic England on our behalf, who have sent the following reply.
“Historic England has provided comments to West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) Spatial Options Consultation, which includes the proposed allocation at East Farndon. Our response expressed concern regarding the potential impact on the scheduled monument and advised that a detailed heritage assessment would be required at an early stage to ensure its significance is preserved, including contributions made by its setting. This would include areas of ridge and furrow that preserve the former medieval open field system and therefore make a positive contribution to the significance of the monument.
Note that the scheduled monument referred to by Historic England, relates to East Farndon medieval settlement remains. You can see the details by clicking this link, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1017190?section=official-list-entry
The World War II crash site will be protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. It is an offence under section 2 of this act to tamper, damage, move, remove or unearth remains. Further information on this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aviation-archaeology. The Parish Council can highlight their concerns regarding unlawful activity with the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) who licence lawful investigation of crash sites and will be able to advise further.”
Councillor Phil King, leader of Harborough District Council (HDC), commented on the Facebook of Chris Heaton-Harris as follows,
“I am not expecting that these sites, in adjoining West Northants will be required to deliver the anticipated housing needs for the Harborough district, as we review our adopted Harborough Local Plan”
Although the above is good news, the latest situation remains that WNC are not including these development proposals in their strategic plan, but HDC still regard them as a potential option to include in their upcoming strategic plan.
EFPC will continue to stay focused and work hard, together with our Ward Councillors and our local MP, Chris Heaton-Harris, to convince both WNC and HDC to scrap these proposals as soon as possible. In addition, EFPC will be writing formally to both WNC and HDC to reinforce the points made by Historic England.
A Google Maps overlay that illustrates the proposed development is shown below. Full details about the development, the EFPC response and information on how resident’s can object, are located in the Parish Council section of this website. To access, please use the menu or click the link below,
https://eastfarndon.org/major-housing-development
If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the East Farndon Parish Clerk or any of the Councillors. Their contact details can be accessed on this website, using this link, https://eastfarndon.org/parish-council/
