Press Release from Bill Davison owner of the Soundhaus

The decision by the Planning Inspectorate (based in Bristol) to overrule WNDC over their refusal to grant planning permission for the development of a block of flats in Great Russell Street can only be described as obtuse. This development is not for the greater good of the Town but will simply line the pockets of the land owner, this cannot be right? The Top Of The Town wasn’t built an eyesore it was allowed to become an eyesore by lazy, property speculators who have come and gone and one of whom will now benefit from simply having sat back and just watched this building fester in the middle of our town.

The flats will stand just 30ft away from the front doors of the soundhaus; the implications of this are obvious. The constant threat of residential re-development around the soundhaus has hung like the sword of Damocles for some years now, well the waiting is over for me, sadly I can see no future for the soundhaus as a venue, and it is likely that it will close this year.

The decision by the inspectorate to overrule the Borough council is a caveat for all and very much a sign of the times, the scenario so familiar; today a venue, tomorrow a town, next week a country! someone from far away who has never been to our venue, who knows nothing of our town but yet has the power to make decisions that will cost me my business, loose people their jobs and affect the lives of many Northampton people.

I would like to thank the WNDC for opposing this application not because I believe they specifically had the Soundhaus in mind but that they were “mindful” of the soundhaus and what it provides for the Town of Northampton. WNDCs approach to Great Russell Street, is about “the big picture” unlike The Planning Inspectorate who simply have not applied good common sense to the appeal. I have always agreed with WNDC that piecemeal development in Great Russell Street is not the way forward. Why have planning committees if their decisions are just to be simply discarded?

Bill Davison