Steps have been taken to stop a shanty town market from forming on a Burton Latimer lay-by.

NB This was at the entrance to the town from KETTERING to the north.

Town councillors said the A6 rest-area was an eyesore and needed urgent tidy-up action.

Cllr Christopher Groome said he saw the beginnings of a shanty town market which could very quickly get out of hand.

The lay-by lies between the railway bridge and Burton Latimer on the A6 and serves as a rest-area for motorists and lorry drivers.

Usually a mobile caravan manned by a coffee, tea and snack-seller serves motorists who stop off.

And since last Saturday a fixed cabin has appeared, along with roadside billboards advertising strawberries for sale.

At this week’s council meeting, many councillors felt the mobile snack kiosk served a useful purpose and was owned by a responsible person who kept the area tidy.

But Mr Groome said roadside sellers made the place messy and made life unfair for Burton Latimer’s shopkeepers.

“Our shopkeepers pay taxes and rates in order to do business. It is quite wrong for people to be able to set up stalls and kiosks in competition. There are plenty of places like transport cafes on the A6 for lorry drivers and people.”

The council agreed to write to the county about imposing a four-hour limit on waiting in the lay-by and to ask Kettering planners for tighter controls on the sort of people selling there.



NB The A6 by-pass was later constructed and opened in 1991 to take the traffic away from the town and the railway bridge has since been demolished and replaced by a new road network. Click here to read about the A6 By-pass)