From members comments I deduce that decisions on the town are made by councillors who do not even live in Daventry and their comments are based on village not town communities. Nor do they acquaint themselves with the sites under discussion. If they had, they would know that the current hall is in a basically commercial not residential area. They would also know that the new site was not previously occupied by the electricity board as suggested by one member. Have they forgotten that after that empty building was destroyed by repeated arson attacks the DDC granted planning permission for 60 flats on that site some two years ago?

Residents in the area have only just recovered from 18 months of noise, dirt and dust and traffic congestion generated by that development and now it is about to start again. It is little consolation to hear from a member that if problems do arise once the building is erected they can be directed to environmental health. What an "after the horse has bolted" attitude.

Development may be necessary for the regeneration and modernisation of the town but it must blend in sensitively and be developed by people who know the town from the inside. Or, how long before the town loses its historic market town character altogether and becomes just another faceless concrete and girder jungle?

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