🗞️ This Week in Towcester
2,880 Homes Planned South of Town
Plans have emerged for 2,880 new homes — plus schools, employment land, and parkland large enough to host music festivals — on farmland south of the Towcester Relief Road. Early phases would focus on land near the A5 and the racecourse, with the full development phased over a number of years.
To put it in context: Towcester has around 9,500 households. This proposal alone would grow the town by roughly 30%.
It's early stage, and it'll go through West Northamptonshire Council's planning process — which means years of debate before anything gets built. But it's exactly the kind of proposal the Local Plan consultation is meant to shape. The two aren't unconnected: what we say now sets the terms for how growth like this gets approved, managed, or refused. If you haven't submitted your views yet, this is the nudge.
Have Your Say on Towcester's Future
West Northamptonshire Council's Local Plan consultation is still open. New housing, infrastructure, green spaces — it's all up for discussion, and the 2,880-home proposal above is exactly why it matters.
The Slow Life Opens in Town
After three years of watching, waiting, and planning, Cécile has finally opened The Slow Life on Towcester's high street. It's a deliberate choice to invest locally despite the longer, harder road of launching a standalone shop rather than going online.
She's giving herself a year to learn what the community needs and what in-town footfall looks like — but she's already planning workshops for the community. That's not the sign of someone treating a retail space as a transaction. If you're passing, pop in.
A5 Overnight Closures — Know Before You Go
National Highways is carrying out overnight maintenance on the A5 between Old Stratford and Hinckley throughout February and March — safety barriers, drainage, lighting, verge trimming. Work runs 8pm to 6am on weeknights only, with a different section closed each night.
The sections closest to Towcester:
Wednesday 25 February: Cuttle Mill Lane, Paulerspury → Towcester Racecourse roundabout
Thursday 26 February: Towcester Racecourse roundabout → Towcester (Tove) roundabout
2–3 March: Towcester (Tove) roundabout → Weedon Bec
Diversions will be signed. Emergency vehicle access is maintained throughout. If you're driving late in the next few weeks, check the full schedule before you set off.
🏉 On the Pitch
Saints Watch
Northampton Saints host Saracens this Saturday at Franklin's Gardens — kick-off 3:05pm in the Prem Rugby Cup. Saints came in on the back of a 49-21 win over Newcastle Red Bulls last Friday, so confidence is up. Saints vs Saracens is one of the fixtures in English rugby, and this one's at home. Well worth going.
Six Nations: England's Twickenham Nightmare
England fans are still processing last weekend. Ireland came to Twickenham and delivered a record 42-21 away win — clinical, physical, and at times embarrassing for the hosts. France are top with three wins from three after brushing aside Italy. Scotland came from behind to beat Wales 26-23.
Round 4 is on 7th March: England travel to Rome, Scotland host France at Murrayfield. England need a response.
🤝 Community Corner
How Does Towcester Stack Up on Anti-Social Behaviour?
According to the most recent published data, Towcester recorded 20 reports of anti-social behaviour in December 2025 — placing it ninth in West Northamptonshire's top ten. Daventry was eighth with 23.
That context matters. For a town of roughly 9,500 households, 20 reports in a month is relatively low — it's not zero, but it's not cause for alarm either. What it does is give residents a baseline: if numbers climb as the town grows, we'll know. Local data like this is worth tracking.
Take a Seat, Have a Chat
Towcester Town Council has introduced "Chatty Benches" around town — regular benches with purple signs inviting anyone to strike up a conversation. No apps, no registration. Just an invitation to be human in public. Loneliness is one of those issues that's easy to dismiss until it affects someone you love.
Annual Town Meeting — Monday 2nd March
Monday 2nd March, 7–9pm at Towcester Town Hall. The Annual Town Meeting for Electors — an open forum where residents hear what the council's been up to and can ask questions directly. With a major housing proposal just published and the Local Plan consultation still open, this is a meeting worth attending.
Council Vacancies
Two ways to get involved with Towcester Town Council right now. The council is hiring staff — a Town Clerk and an Office Administrator, both of which don't come up often. And separately, there's a casual vacancy for an elected Brook Ward councillor — a volunteer role that shapes planning decisions and community funding. Different commitments, same opportunity to have a say.
🔗 Staff vacancies — towcester-tc.gov.uk/job-vacancies
🔗 Become a councillor — towcester-tc.gov.uk/be-a-town-councillor
📅 What's On
Swimathon — 20–22 March, Towcester Centre for Leisure
Swimathon turns 40 this year and Towcester is one of over 450 venues taking part. Pick a distance, pick a date, raise money for charity. If you've been meaning to get back in the pool, this is a decent excuse.
The Great Weston 5 — Monday 4th May
A 5-mile multi-terrain run from Weston Village Chapel (NN12 8PU). UKA rules, fully marshalled, medal and goody bag. £13 affiliated / £15 unaffiliated in advance. Finishers also get free entry to the Lois Weedon & Weston May Day Country Fair — craft stalls, live music, Crown Inn food. More on the fair closer to the date.
🌤️ Weather
Sunny and 13°C this week — which for late February in Northamptonshire is genuinely suspicious. Enjoy it. March will restore order soon enough.
🧇 The Waffle
2,880 Homes and the Town We're Building
There's a version of Towcester's future where the town grows by 30%, the south fills with new streets and schools, and the high street gets a new wave of residents to support it. There's another version where the infrastructure lags behind, the GP surgery can't cope, and the roads become genuinely impassable.
The difference between those two versions isn't luck. It's whether the people who live here now bother to shape the process. The 2,880-home proposal published this week is early stage — it will take years. But the Local Plan consultation that's running right now is where those terms get set.
Towcester is a town people choose to live in. Worth deciding what that should mean in ten years' time.
That's the waffle for this week.
Tips, events, corrections, opinions? Submit them here — we read everything.
Enjoy it while Towcester's still this size. 🧇
— Atlas & Lee, somewhere in NN12