Focus on Kingsley

Plans for some low play mounds for young children, to be placed near the playground at the Barrack Rd end of the Racecourse will be on display at the Friends of the Racecourse/ Healthy Living Hub open meeting on Tuesday 3 February at 7.30pm at the Best Western Lime Trees Hotel, 8 Langham Place, Barrack Road, Northampton NN2 6AA.

There will laso be a discussion and presentation about the playmounds and an update on the progress of the Healthy Living Hub.

Council owned homes in Kingsley are to be a part of the £3 million pound plan to improve the standard of housing. 450 homes in Kingsley and Kingsthorpe will be brought up to the decent homes standard during 2009/10..

The Kingsley housing estate was built in the 1920’s and 1930’s with some improvements in the 1960’s. There are problems with damp and condensation which will be dealt with during the refurbishment, together with some environmental works such as walls and fences.

Tenants will have received a letter from the Director of Housing and will be fully consulted on the plans for their homes in the new year.

The Council have published plans to extend the existing Kingsley Conservation Area to include the whole of the Racecourse. The plans are available on the council’s website www.northampton.gov.uk/consultation and the consultation period ends on the 30th January 2009.

The plans include an appraisal of the area with a fascinating history of the Racecourse and the area around it. Just three snippets:-

‘Kingsley’ derives from Kingeshala ‘Kings Nook’ an outlying corner of Kingsthorpe Manor.

Racing started at Harlestone Firs but was transferred to Freeman’s Common (now the Racecourse) assigned to the freemen under the 1778 Act of Enclosure.

The Kingsley Park Hotel was a residential hotel for Racegoers, but after racing stopped in 1904 it laid empty for 18 years, hence it was nicknamed the ‘White Elephant’.

A new planning application has been submitted for three houses at the end of Sunningdale Close, backing onto properties at the end of Masefield Way. The application number is N/2008/1203 and the plans can be viewed on the council’s website www.northampton.gov.uk.
Let me know if you have any views.

The arrow sculpture on the Racecourse was formally ‘launched’ today at a little cremony in the park. The university students who designed it, together with members of Friends of the Racecourse and the Healthy Living Hub came together at the arrow to talk about the project and what it has acheived.

It has been controversial, but it is now good to see students using it as a seat and children playing on it. The sphere make useful information points about the park and what it has to offer. The Healthy Living Hub project now continues with the appointment of a part time project worker on a short term contract to take the masterplan forward and seek funding to implement key elements of the plan which have popular support. We hope to have more information about this soon.

Richard Church has requested that funds given to County Councillors to support local projects be spent on replacing roadside trees in Kingsley. The full list of sites where new trees are planted to be planted this winter is as follows:-
Hazeldene Rd. No’s. 144 & 148
Collingwood Rd. No 69
The Drive No’s 14, 20/22, 16
The Crescent No 8
St Matthews Parade Opposite No 30, 79/81
East Park Parade Opposite lamp column No.22
Kenmuir Avenue No.42
Kingsley Rd No. 19A
Milton St. North green space (3 trees)
Kettering Rd. corner of Raeburn Rd (3 trees)
Kenmuir Crescent traffic island
Kenmuir Avenue/Wallace Rd junction (2 trees)
Park Avenue North No’s 2, 30, 82, 90, 120, 162

There are many more sites which have been suggested, but either underground cables prevent new trees being planted or existing tree stumps need to be removed and the site left to rest before a new tree can be planted. We hope to return to some of those sites in future years.

Appropriate species for each site have been carefully selected depending on the nature of the site. Strong trees will be planted with good protection against vandalism.

Let us know if you would like more information.

I am honoured to have won the ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ competition when the results were announced on Saturday at the Local Democracy Week event at The Guildhall.

It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done as a Councillor and I have really learnt a lot.

The ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ event started on 6th October and involved 6 Borough Councillors being available online to answer questions from local school children and young people. The Councillors all had a manifesto and there were three live chat sessions. The other Councillors who took part were: Jane Hollis, Ifty Choudary, David Palethorpe, Phil Larratt and Keith Davis. It was the first time Northampton has taken part in the event which was part of National Local Democracy week. Cllr Ifty Choudary came second.

I have now been declared as ‘Youth Champion for Northampton for 2008′

There were some really good ideas from the young people which I now want to see if we can progress. One simple one was to hold a regular online chat session for young people to raise matters with their councillors. I have already asked the council if this can be done.

Next year I hope we can build on this event and make it even more successful I would really recommend other councillors to get involved it really opens your eyes to what young people are thinking.

There is currently a vacancy for a school governor at Wallace Rd nursery school. School governors play a vital role in supporting schools, and are an excellent way to give something back to the local community. Contact me or Richard Church rchurch1@northampton.gov.uk if you would like to put your name forward.

We get many complaints, particularly from elderly people, about cycling on pavements. Many cyclists don’t know it is an offence to cycle on pavements and it is a serious danger for both cyclists and pedestrians.

Over the next few weeks, the police are running a campaign along the length of the Kettering Road, and you will soon see signs going up to warn cyclists. Offenders face a £30 fixed penalty charge for cycling on the pavement.

Police officers in Kingsley are to have a hand held speed gun. Complaints of speeding in residential streets continue to rise, so Richard Church has allocated a small portion of his County Council funds to buy a hend held speed gun that can be used to target motorists in residential streets who are a danger and a nuisance on the roads.

When the purchase is complete, the speed gun will be operated by the Kingsley and Parklands Police safer communities team. Let us know of a particular street where you think speeding is a problem.