West Northamptonshire Development Corporation

West Northamptonshire Development Corporation
Formation 2004
Headquarters Northampton
Location
Official language
English
Chairman

Chief Executive
John Markham OBE

Peter Mawson
Website www.wndc.org.uk

The West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) is an urban Development Corporation set up to cover parts of Northamptonshire in England, by the United Kingdom government in December 2004. WNDC was set up by the Secretary of State under the provisions of the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 and has an explicit objective "to secure the regeneration of its area". The Act provides that it may do so in a number of different ways including making decisions on planning applications. It is one of three existing urban development corporations in the United Kingdom and the only one outside London.[1]

WNDC covers the three defined "Urban Development Areas" of Daventry, Towcester and Northampton. The corporation received its full Development Control powers on 6 April 2006.

Following the establishment of the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in May 2010 the role of WNDC became uncertain following the removal by the new government of the "Regional Spatial Strategy". The positions of West Northants Joint Planning Unit and the North Northants Development Corporation were also uncertain.

In April 2012, the WNDC's planning powers were returned to local councils. The WNDC was subsequently wound up on 31 March 2014.[2]

Powers

They have a wide range of powers at their disposal, these powers include:

Executive Team

As of July 2010 the Executive Team is -
Peter Mawson - Chief Executive, Roger Mendonca - Deputy Chief Executive, Chris Garden - Director of Regeneration and Development, Adrian Arnold - Director of Planning Services and Bill Allen -Director of Implementation and Delivery

Board Members

WNDC Board members come from both the public and private sector, representing the needs of local government, the community, and business.

As of July 2010 the board members are -
John Markham (chairman) John Weir, Cllr Sandra Barnes, Mary Burrows MBE, David Dickinson, John Farrow, Cllr Chris Millar, Anne Tate, Nick Thompson, Cllr Anthony Woods, Cllr Richard Church, Cllr Jim Harker, Cllr Joy Capstick.

Projects

There are currently a number of projects running in each area -

Northampton

[3]

Daventry

£9 million has been spent so far kick-starting -

[4]

Towcester

Over £6 million has been invested in Towcester Town Centre helping to support -

[5]

iCon

The iCon is a building in Daventry that is currently under construction as of 2010. The iCon will be a new landmark building for the town. The state-of-the-art scheme will be a national centre of excellence for sustainable construction and green technologies.It will provide accommodation, support and advice for up to 60 businesses. The Centre will also have a conference hall for up to 300 people, as well as a public piazza and a café/restaurant. This £8.5 million project was funded by WNDC, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and East Midlands Development Agency.

The building has also won a Green Apple Award for the built Environment and Architectural Heritage. The Green Apple Awards, presented by The Green Organisation, are part of an annual international campaign to recognise, reward and promote environmental practice around the world.[6]

References

External links

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