Land Use Change In Northampton!

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Deepak Chandi

LAND USE CHANGE IN NORTHAMPTON!

PART 1 (a):

Northampton is a large market town best known for its footwear and leather industries. The town has recently grown outwards to the east and west. Northampton is situated around the River Nene.

INDUSTRY:

Many of the old industrial sites are located with in the CBD. Companies like Latimer & Crick; Corn Merchants use to be located near South Bridge (Smiths Timber Yard use to be located at the bottom of Bridge Street. Padmore & Barnes, shoe manufacturers use to be located on St. James Road. I believe that these old industries were located in these areas mainly as a result of transport links. Smiths Timber Yard was located at the bottom of Bridge Street mainly because the River Nene flows around Bridge Street so therefore this would be an excellent means of transport for the Timber yard. Padmore & Barnes was located on St. James Rd mainly due to the fact that a railway line runs through the area leading to other parts of Northampton and eventually linking up to other parts of the country. Also, the River Nene runs through the St. James area so therefore again creating good means of transport.

Many of the new industrial sites are located out of the town centre. Brackmills Industrial Estate is located off the Bedford Road A428. The Crow Lane developments are located near the Billing garden Centre. Also there is the exception of the Commercial Park situated on Grafton Street. I believe these new industries have located in these areas mainly because of transport links and large amounts of good cheap land. Brackmills Industrial Estate is located off the Bedford Road A428 mainly because this route carries on through to the other side of Northampton. The A428 also takes you to Bedford and the route carries on into the direction of Cambridge. Brackmills is also situated close to the A508. The A508 leads to Milton Keynes and more or less leads into the South East of England. The Brackmills site is fairly flat land with plenty of space for future development. Crow Lane developments are located near to the Billing garden centre mainly because the A45 is just off the developments. The A45 from Northampton goes further north through Coventry and Birmingham. The A45 also goes east of the country to places like Cambridge and Newmarket. The Crow Lane development site is fairly flat and has plenty of space for future expansion. These sites are also very cheap Brownfield sites attracting the companies that much more. Many of these industries were stopped from locating in the town centre because of factors like very little amount of space for location and especially expansion, very high rent for land, poor access to a CBD location i.e. traffic congestion and so on….

RETAIL:

Many of the old shopping areas use to be located within the CBD. This was a range of shops from Adnits, a clothes shop located on the drapery to King’s Family Butcher’s located in the Market Square. There were also small China, Emporium, Second hand books etc….., sold in the Victorian Arcade, which was located where Boots are now situated. I believe these shops were all located within the CBD because at the time means of transport were limited for example not everyone or even every family had a car so people liked to have everything within reach of walking distance. This meaning they did not do shopping for leisure so wanted everything convenient. I believe the factors influencing the sites are rent, and amount of space.

Many of the new shopping areas are located out of the CBD. With the exception of the Grosvenor Centre. The other new shopping areas range from Weston Favell Centre to Riverside Retail Park located off the A45 roundabout coming down the A503 Lumbertubs Way. There is also a Tesco supermarket located in East Hunsbary and Weston Favell. I believe all these shopping areas have taken up out of town centre locations mainly because of the fact that there are major road links close by. Weston Favell centre is located off the A4500 Wellingborough Road mainly because this route runs through all most all of Northampton and carries on into Wellingborough. Despite the fact that there are good road links to this location, there are also many housing estates within a 1 to 2 mile radius, these include estates like Little Billing, Southfields, Blackthorn, Ecton Brook and so on. There is a wide range of shops in the centre ranging from clothes shops to butchers and bakeries; also there is the Tesco supermarket. Riverside Retail Park is located off the A45 roundabout mainly because the A45 runs through most of Northampton and links up to the A43 which finally leads to the M1. Riverside is also very close to a number of housing areas like Weston Favell and Beezer Homes. Riverside has also vast quantities of space for future development. Riverside mainly consists of electrical shops such as, Comet, Currys, powerhouse and so on. There are also sports shops and car companies like Audi set up on the estate. The Grosvenor Centre is obviously an excellent location simply because it is in the centre of the CBD. There is a wide variety of shops ranging from clothes shops to music and electrical shops. The main advantage of being out of the CBD is that because almost everyone has a car now a days, people do not have to relay on everything to be close together so people are prepared to travel further to get what they require. People now see shopping as a leisure activity, not something you have to do. Also the other advantage is that rent for land out of the CBD is far more cheaper and further more there is much more space. So you can see that the location of shopping areas has simply changed due to the fact that people’s mobility is far greater than it was in the past.

HOUSING:

Most of the old housing areas use to be concentrated mainly in the town centre. This was mainly terrist housing built in long, straight rows up and down streets, these types of houses had no garden or open space. If we look at old housing in the town centre we can see that it is spread evenly across the town. There is old housing on St. Andrews St, Hazelwood Road, Spring Gardens, York Road, Alexandra Road, Bridge Street, Earl Street, Campbell Street, St. Michael’s Road and so on. I believe their location was mainly a result of the nineteenth century revolution, when a rapid growth of workers into towns led to an increase in the demand for quick, cheap housing development. Also in the past as there was a lack of transport people had to be within walking distance of their work or at least fairly close so houses had to be built close to factories and often in a very small amount of space.

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The majority of the new housing areas are located out of the town centre. This ranges from semi-detached housing to detached. There are several new housing developments, which have been completed or are in the process of being completed. These new settlements include areas such as Grange Park and Wooton Fields.

RECREATIONAL:

There are many old parkland and sports grounds evenly spread across Northampton. There are parks like Abington Park and Dallington Park . A typical example of an old sports ground is the former Northampton Town Football stadium, which is now the Northampton County Cricket Ground. ...

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An excellent review of a variety of urban issues, covering 2 specific cases - the superpub and Morrisons. The student shows very detailed knowledge of the area, with specific named examples, distances and companies. They would benefit from an introductory paragraph explaining what the report will do (aims) and this would help understand the structure. There are just a couple of examples of information that may not be relevant to the report overall, e.g. the stages and set up of the Council/planning permission. Although this is detailed info, it does not directly matter to the main issues of the report. There is some comparison and discussion of impacts and factors, showing some evaluation skills. This could be further evidenced if done in the final paragraph too.