Using the mobile speed gun purchased using Richard Church’s Councillor empowerment fund, the Police have targetted Kettering Rd, Kingsley Rd, The Drive and Hazeldene Rd to tackle nuisance and danger caused by speeding traffic in residential areas. So far, nearly 90 vehicles have been found to be over the 30mph speed limit. 16 of these were found to be 35mph or over and drivers were issued with speeding tickets/£60 fine.
The County Council’s plan to hand over Unity college to an academy run by Carphone warehouse boss David Ross is subject to consulatation this month (November). Dates include:-
11th November Public information open day
17th November Public consultation meetings
27th November consultation ends
8th December Cabinet decision on the issuing of statutory notice of closure.
9th March 2010 Cabinet decision to close school and open an academy
You can email your views to the County Council at nccacadconsultation@northamptonshire.gov.uk and for more information visit www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/unity
Unity (formerly Trinity) School has been through years of disruption caused by external interference. Firstly, Kingsley Park Middle school was closed and incorporated in the school. Then it was decided to turn the school into a Church school led by the Church of England, then the old Trinity School was demolished and the new school built over two years. With all of this change, the school’s performance has deteriorated, but most recently with a new head teacher exam results have started to improve. What Unity now desperately needs is a period of stability to create a stable learning environment for its pupils.
It’s time for the County Council to show confidence in the leadership of the school, not force yet another upheaval.
A government planning inspector has overturned the Borough Councils decision to refuse planning permission for the car wash that has been operating for some months in the car park at the Romany pub. This is surprising and disappointing. The car wash started without proper permission and has reduced parking spaces in the car park, as well as being an unsightly operation without proper facilities, including drainage.
A Planning application for an extension to Crescent Nursing Home is to be considered by Planning Committee on 27th October. Andrew has asked for the planning committee to determine it instead of it just being considered by planning officers. ‘I am concerned that much of the work has already been done’ said Andrew, ‘and that this is another attempt at overdevelopment in a pleasant residential area. It is important that local concerns are heard’.
‘The planning officers are recommending refusal, but I will be attending the committee to urge councillors to support their recommendation’ Andrew concluded.
Update
Planning permission has been unanimously refused by the committee at its meeting on Tuesday night.
Plans are being drawn up for a creative and adventurous new play facilities on the Racecourse. The play area will be at the head of the valley, and will be designed with landscaping and planting to offer something special and complementary to the wide open space of the Racecourse. Companies have been shortlisted to exhibit their proposlas at a series of consultation events over the next few days. These are:-
Tuesday 20th October 7.30pm-9.30pm
Lime Trees Hotel Barrack Rd.
Wednesday 21st October 4pm-7.45pm
The Picturedrome Kettering Rd.
There are also plans for a couple of exhibitions on the Racecourse itself on 26th and 27th October.
Tesco’s on Kingsley Park Terrace is now open. If you like to speak to a real person when you do your shopping, you won’t like it. It is one of the first Tesco convenience stores in the country to have an an entirely self service checkout. At the moment, there are helpful assistants to tell you how to swipe the barcodes and make your payment, but that won’t last. If you want to shop in the good old fashioned way and have a real person at the chekout, there is still the Co-op.
The good news though is that Tesco’s have improved the security at the back of the store with a new fence to prevent vandals using the fire escape to get to the upstairs premeses.
Heritage Open days this year are turning into a heritage open weekend with historic places all over Northampton open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11th-13th September.
In Kingley St Matthews Church will open on Friday 11th September noon-2pm, Saturday 12th 10am-4pm and Sunday noon-4.40pm. The School of Art at the University on St. George’s Avenue will also be open just on Friday 11am-2pm.
Throughout Northampton, other buildings are open, with an antiques fair on the Market Square and a family history exhibition in the ex servicemen’s club in Sheep St. For more information visit the Northampton Heritage Open Days website. There is much more to see in Northampton than the town is ever given credit for!
I will be joining Northampton Borough Council’s housing team in an estate walkabout in Kingsley next Tuesday (8 September).
The walkabouts give residents the chance to meet and let their housing officers know about environmental issues that are concerning them to make the area a better place to live.
Residents interested in taking part are asked to meet at 10am on Tuesday 8 September at the top of Kenmuir Avenue on the Kettering Road.
Door to door glass collections for recycling are to be extended to all homes which do not have wheelie bins, but have black sack collections. This will include streets like Poets Corner and Holly Rd.
Earlier this year over 65,000 households in Northampton received new black glass recycling boxes and over 700 tones of glass was collected in just 2 months. Over the next couple of weeks new calendars and black boxes will be delivered to an additional 15,000 houses so even more people can join in with glass recycling from the kerbside. For these households the new collection will start week commencing Monday 21 September. Glass bottles and jars will be collected every four weeks, on the same day as the black sack collection.We want to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle and reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill. This will give every household the chance to have their used bottles and jars turned into new glass.The new recycling calendars and black boxes will be delivered in early September.
Free Summer celebration event for 13-19 year olds
28th August 4pm-6pm The Racecourse (Near booking Office)
Free BBQ (First come first served- phone the number below to check availability)
Football Cricket Rounders Skating Fun Inflatables
Football Shoot out and Super Hero Sumo Wrestling
For more info contact the Borough Council Sports development team on 01604 837704 or email stevejohnson@northampton.gov.uk
