38 modular homes at Lings Park are due this autumn, with 70 more at Claret Park. 672 West Northants households were in temporary accommodation in March.

The first of 108 modular temporary homes for Northampton families facing homelessness is nearly finished. West Northamptonshire Council said on Monday that its 38-home Lings Park scheme in Weston Favell will be completed later this autumn. (New temporary accommodation scheme nears completion, WNC)

The homes are for households the council would otherwise place in bed and breakfasts and nightly-paid lets. On 31 March this year, 672 West Northamptonshire households were living in temporary accommodation. That number includes 322 families with children, and 582 children. (MHCLG statutory homelessness tables, January to March 2026)

What is being built

Lings Park sits on the site of the former Lings Upper School, off Billing Brook Road. The school was demolished more than ten years ago and the land has stood overgrown since. (Planning committee report, 2025/3544/MAF)

The council’s announcement sets out what the scheme includes:

  • 38 two-bedroom apartments, built as relocatable modular units
  • a residents’ community hub, laundry and management office
  • an equipped children’s play area
  • an EPC A energy rating, with solar panels and battery storage

The units are being made by modular housing firm Boost TA, with Glympton Construction doing the groundworks.

A second, larger scheme follows. Claret Park will put 70 homes, a mix of one and two bedrooms, on the former Claret Car Park off Edgar Mobbs Way, near Sixfields. The council expects it to be completed later this year. (Planning committee report, 2025/3548/MAF)

Who the homes are for

Temporary accommodation is housing the council arranges for households it owes a homelessness duty to, while they wait for something settled. The government’s figures show where West Northamptonshire’s 672 households were living at the end of March:

  • 319 in council or housing association stock
  • 233 in nightly-paid, privately managed rooms and flats
  • 105 in B&Bs
  • 14 in private sector accommodation
  • 1 in another type of temporary accommodation

A further five households were owed a duty but had no accommodation secured. None of the 105 B&B households had children, which matters because B&Bs are the accommodation the law treats as a last resort for families.

Bar chart showing where West Northamptonshire's 672 households in temporary accommodation were living on 31 March 2026: 319 in council or housing association stock, 233 in nightly-paid privately managed accommodation, 105 in B&Bs, 14 in private sector accommodation and 1 in another type
Nightly-paid lets and B&Bs, the two types the new schemes are meant to replace, held 338 of the 672 households.
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The local trend is going the right way. A year earlier the county’s western unitary had 763 households in temporary accommodation, so the total has fallen by 91 in twelve months. Households with children fell from 406 to 322. Across England the total rose over the same year, from 131,140 households to 135,580. (MHCLG detailed tables, January to March 2025)

West Northamptonshire’s rate is 3.7 households in temporary accommodation for every thousand households in the district. The England rate is 5.5.

What it costs, and what the council says it saves

The council approved a capital budget of 12.372 million pounds for the two sites in August 2024, when it expected around 100 units. It estimated the homes would save it about 667,000 pounds a year against nightly lets and B&Bs. The announcement of that decision has since been removed from the council’s website; an archived copy is on the Wayback Machine. (West Northants Council allocates £12.3 million, archived WNC release, 15 August 2024)

Cllr Charlie Hastie, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for housing, said: “Too often, families can spend extended periods in unsuitable and costly emergency accommodation because there simply are not enough appropriate options available. These new homes will provide modern, energy-efficient accommodation that offers people dignity, stability and security at a difficult time in their lives.”

Giles Donovan, Boost’s co-founder, said the firm is “now in discussion with growing numbers of local authorities right across the country” about the same product.

How the plans got through

Both sites went out to public consultation in July 2025, with drop-in events at Weston Favell Parish Hall and Sixfields Stadium. (Temporary accommodation plans go out to public consultation, WNC)

The planning committee dealt with both applications on 5 February 2026, and officers were given delegated powers to grant each one subject to conditions. Neither sailed through unremarked:

  • Lings Park (application 2025/3544/MAF) drew five letters of objection and none of support
  • Claret Park (application 2025/3548/MAF) drew three objection letters, with neighbouring businesses raising security concerns and matchday parking

The parking point is real. The Claret Car Park is used by Northampton Saints and Northampton Town supporters on matchdays, and the highways authority flagged the loss of around 300 spaces near two stadiums.

The units are classed as relocatable, and the council has said they can be moved elsewhere if needed. For the Lings site, the committee report looks further ahead: “After the temporary period it is hoped that a permanent residential development of the site will be put forward.”

What it means for you

These are not homes you can apply for on the housing register. They are allocated to households the council has assessed as owed a homelessness duty. If you are homeless or at risk of losing your home within 56 days, contact the council’s Housing Options team on 0300 126 7000, or start with the council’s homelessness pages.

For families currently in nightly-paid rooms, the practical difference is a self-contained two-bedroom home with a play area and laundry on site, rather than a room with no cooking facilities and no fixed address to plan around.

If you park at the Claret Car Park for Saints or Cobblers matchdays, that option is going. The committee papers expect displaced matchday traffic to look elsewhere around St James and Upton.

More Northampton information

Sources