Last night (Wednesday) Daventry District Council’s planning committee voted to approve plans to construct a 550 berth marina at Onley.
Discussions were heated at the meeting as councillors debated the possible impacts of a new marina on a stretch of canal some campaigners says is already congested.
A report by planning officer Eamon McDowell said the application made by firm JMarine would be a sustainable form of development with the positive impacts of the development outweighing the negatives.
Concerns about the plan from campaigners were that the canal is already congested at peak season and would get worse with the construction of a new marina. They also said the development would create unnecessary competition between neighbouring marinas and that there wasn’t a need or want for a development in this area.
The subject of conservation was also hotly debated as the site includes medieval ridge and furrow field systems which many believe need to be preserved.
In the end though the committee concluded that the site was in need of the development as it had stood derelict for some time, that many local residents support the marina, and that the harm to the environment was not a big enough concern to reject the proposal.