Today we learnt that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has delayed his decision on the Rushden Lakes development at Skew Bridge, which we had expected him to make on Thursday (13th February 2014).
The letter from the Secretary of State makes it clear that the application remains under careful consideration and implies that the decision will be reached as soon as possible.
There is, however, a national emergency going on at the moment with the flooding situation and I know that Ministers and their officials are quite rightly focussing their efforts on saving people’s homes and doing everything they can to make sure that people are safe. Although this delay is frustrating for us all, I do entirely understand the circumstances behind it.
I also appreciate all the support that local people have given to the Conservative Listening Campaign on this issue and we will keep leading the charge - I very much hope that the Secretary of State will, in due course, do the right thing and approve this development; we desperately need the new jobs, new shops and new leisure facilities that this scheme will bring.