Kettering town centre has undergone a period of change says commercial property agent Prop-Search, with further plans to change the appearance of the High Street.
Kettering Borough Council continues to drive forward improvements to the town centre as part of their vision to deliver growth and regeneration as set out in the Area Action Plan – adopted in 2011. In a bid to reduce traffic and improve the street scene, the Borough Council has been consulting on proposals to further pedestrianise areas of the town centre, improve street furniture, lighting and more disabled facilities in Gold Street and High Street. The plans also include various options for improving the new ‘town square – the area once known as Bakehouse Hill where Lower Street, Gold Street and High Street meet.
A phased series of improvements to the Newlands Centre have been in progress since last year. The owner, Ellandi, has recently been undertaking work on the floors, ceilings and lighting at a cost of approaching £400,000 and follows the installation of new public amenity facilities. Once the current stage of refurbished is completed, a facelift of the Centre’s entrances on Gold Street and Tanners Lane will commence.
This year has also seen a number of new stores opening in the Centre – Roman Originals and Select. Roman Originals has opened in Unit 3 comprising a sales area of 876 sq ft. The family owned business was originally a manufacturing company in Birmingham and today designs and manufactures its own range of ladies clothing and accessories, and retails from over 150 outlets across the UK. The national fashion brand, Select, has taken occupation of a 2,719 sq ft unit and offers effortless catwalk to high-street styles through its 130+ UK stores.
Improvements to Kettering market are also being proposed. Kettering Borough Council has invested £20,000 to help bring new vibrancy back into the High Street market as a result of shoppers saying that the existing stalls were looking drab, unloved and not enhancing or complementing the town centre.
Kettering Borough Council has also announced that a long lease agreement has been confirmed to refurbish and regenerate The Yards area of the town centre. A lease has been signed with a local developer who proposes to convert the site for retail, restaurant and office use – refurbishing and re-developing the majority of the existing buildings.
A planning application for a new business park near Junction 10 of the A14 is likely to be submitted this year. Roxhill Developments hosted a public exhibition during March where local resident’s thoughts were sought for the development of the 90 acre site, adjacent to Latimer Business Park where occupiers include Morrison’s, Weetabix and Alpro.
The site has been identified by the North Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit has an area fit for development for employment use and is master planned as a high quality mixed use B1 (business), B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution) scheme. The site could accommodate buildings from 10,000 sq ft to 150,000 sq ft, creating approximately 3,000 new jobs. As part of the scheme, Junction 10 of the A14 would be upgraded to increase its vehicle capacity from about 3,500 vehicles per hour to about 6,500.
The A14 Junction 10 Business Park will provide a real opportunity for local companies to expand and invest in their businesses. However, the strength of the location will create demand on a regional/national level to provide employment opportunities. A high quality mixed-use commercial business park is proposed, focussed on small to medium sized units.
