Work is progressing well with new play facilities. The Planning Committee unanimously backed the planning application, which will allow for one particularly tall piece of play equipment, which will be set in the dip and close to the trees. It is expected that the play ground will be open in April to allow time for the grass to grow.

People in Northampton will have the chance to get involved in deciding how the Borough Council spends money on services. Northampton Borough Council is inviting local people to discuss its proposed budget at:

The Guildhall, Northampton on 4 February from 6.30pm.

Neighbourhood Partnership 8 meeting held at Barry Road School, on Wednesday 3 February from 7pm to 9pm.

The 7 different consultation events that were held during October concerning play space on The Racecourse resulted in 203 people completing surveys, including 72 children & young people aged 6-13 yrs.  Apart from 3 people who had concerns about any new play space at all being provided, everyone else recorded their support and enthusiasm for the new play space with by far the most commonly heard comment that ‘we can’t believe this is actually going to happen on The Racecourse’. The Playbuilder Project Group met on October 30th and selected Miracle Design & Play based at Moulton Park as the preferred contractor.  We have subsequently met with them and have negotiated a few changes to their proposals and would like to invite you to see the design that is proposed for this exciting development.Please drop in to The Picturedrome, 222 Kettering Rd., N’pton NN1 4BN anytime between 4.30pm and 7.30pm this Thursday, 3rd December to see the design and to speak with Miracle & members of The Project Group.

Richard attended a meeting organised by Labour MP Sally Keeble at Kingsley Primary School on Saturday. He hadn’t been invited, but since it was discussing the future of the County Council owned Raeburn Special School, it seemed approprite that the County Councillor for the area may be able to help. It was made clear to Andrew Simpson that he would not be welcome.

What is Sally worried about? That councillors form different parties may actually be able to work together for the good of local people? Surely with the current reputation of politicians that is exactly what we should be doing.

Anyway, lots of local issues were raised, not just the old school site, and we have already taken some of them up with the local authorities, as we are sure has Sally.

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.

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.

Friends of the Raceourse have successfully bid for £49,000 for a new play area for 8-13 year old young people. The plan is for imaginative and challenging new play facilities which blend in to the landscape. Over the Summer the Friends group will be talking to young people as well as older people to seek ideas and consult on plans for the new area, which is likely to be sited near the top of the valley and close to the existing basket ball and play area.

Consultation on the Racecourse masterplan showed the public viewed new play facilities for young people as a high priority, and we hope this proposal will bring something a little different and exciting to our park. The Focus team will also be consulting, and we will welcome your views.

Tesco’s are planning to open a new Express store at 98-102 Kingsley Park Terrace (between Shelley & Moore St.). They have submitted a series of planning applications, including for a new shop sign (N/2009/0559), new shop front (N/2009/0560), service yard canopy, chiller unit and refrigeration units (N/2009/0558) and a cash machine (N/2009/0557).

These planning applications can all be viewed on Northampton Borough Council’s website. Use the reference numbers above on the planning search facility, send your comments to the council and let us know your views.

Richard Church attended a meeting of Kingsthorpe Hollow Residents Association on Thursday evening. Residents were particularly concerned that a number of new tenants in the flats were causing a nuisance, particularly where there were elderly neighbours in sheltered accomodation. Richard is also taking up a request from residents of Monarch Rd for the cul-de-sac sign to be replaced to stop lorries turning in.

There was a lively discussion about the town centre, and agreement on the need to redevelop the bus station and expand the Grosvenor centre to provide better facilities for bus passengers and a better selection of shops.

Sadly, it looks as if last year’s Balloon Festival may have been the last. It has been a popular event for nearly 20 years, but since the sponsorship for shaped balloons ended a few years ago it has been more and more difficult to make the festival pay for itself. Even with the charge, to hold it again would have cost the equivalent of £3 for every council tax payer, at a time when the Council is having to find over £8 million in savings due to the recession and lack of government funding.

To continue the balloon festival there would have had to be more severe cuts in other council services. With many other difficult decisions to take we do not believe that could have been justified.

Tree planting throughout Kingsley has started. New trees have been planted in Kingsley Rd, The Drive, The Vale, Milton St. North, Kenmuir Avenue and Kenmuir Crescent. The trres have funded by Richard Church’s County Council budget for Kingsley.

Trees have been selected based on the mature size appropriate to each site, and are well protected against vandalism. Let’s hope they flourish.

The County Council have said that parking restrictions on the Kettering Rd parking bays, by the Racecourse, will be implemented by the end of February. The plans are intended to stop car dealers taking up the spaces with cars for sale. There will be a 3 hour waiting limit on weekdays only from 8am-8pm. The time is intended to cause the minimum nuisance to residents of East Park Parade and users of the Racecourse, while stopping the car dealers for good.

Despite overwhelming opposition from pupils, parents, teachers; governors and the local community at Unity College, the County Council are going ahead with the next stage of fast tracking Unity to become an academy.

Richard Church attended the meeting, together with parents, pupils and teachers, where the Council’s cabinet member for schools, Conservative Councillor Joan Kirkbride made the decision to go ahead. There were many excellent conributions from those who spoke, and no-one had a good word to say about the proposal, or the botched consultation that has happened so far.

With the support of at least 7 other County Councillors, Richard is going to ask that the decision is ‘called in’ for examination by the councils scrutiny committee.

I shall be adding my support to the campaign against an academy at Unity. With a new Head and new buildings, Unity desperately needs a period of stability in which it can work to improve. Now is not the time to be fast tracked into another organisational shake up with little evidence that it will achieve anything that cannot be done under the current arrangements.

UPDATE Conservative councillors have blocked the attempted call-in, so the fast-track to academy status for Unity continues.

The Council have declared Barrack Rd and the Park Avenue North/Kettering Rd roundabout as designated air quality management areas. Some other busy junctions, such as the Cock Hotel, have already been AQMA’s for a while.

Both of these areas have been tested over recent months for Nitrogen Dioxide, one of the main pollutants from traffic, and they are above the government targets, requiring that they are designated as air quality management areas (AQMA).

Both areas will continue to be monitored, and if the level of pollution does not fall then a management plan has to be prepared to show how the pollution may be tackled. This is particularly a matter for the County Council as the Highways Authority to show how traffic levels may be reduced. Ultimately though, it’s up to all of us. The more people use public transport, bike or walk into town, the less traffic and the less pollution particularly for people who live in the immediate vicinity of these roads.

Andrew Simpson and Richard Church attended a meeting for parents and residents about plans to turn Unity College into an academy. This means the school would close as a Church of England Secondary School funded through the County Council and re-open as a Church of England Academy.

There was strong opposition to the plan from the parents present who spoke in support of the existing head teacher, who has been in post for less than a year, but would be replaced under this proposal. Their were also concerns (voiced by both Andrew and Richard) that the proposal would weaken the schools links with the local community , and that it was being proposed only to tackle a large defecit in the schools budget.

The academy proposal is being promoted by the Councty Council, together with Moulton College and Bishops Stopford school (a Church of England school in Kettering). A consultation leaflet can be found on the County Council website at www.northamptonshire.gov.uk and the sponsors website www.pcaaun.org and you can respond to esopp@northamptonshire.gov.uk.

Parents who are opposed to the academy move have their own website at http://www.saveunitycollege.org

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’.

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.

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.

Following complaints by residents and local Lib Dem councillors, the council have insisted that a caravan permanently parked on Romany Road has been removed. As well as causing a eyesore in the street, an electric cable was lying across the pavement, causing a potential hazard to pedestrians.

Looking for something for the Kids to do over the long summer holiday? There’s local courses in Badminton, Golf, Netball, Girls football, Athletics and Cricket at reasonable prices

In addition theres multi-sport activities on the Racecourse (meet at the changing rooms) and Kingsthorpe Rec (meet at the booking office) from 28th July to 22nd August for 5 to 12 year olds. 2 sessions per day 10am-12pm, 1.30pm-3.30pm. Sessions are £1 per child or 50p if they have a leisure card. For more information contact Northampton Borough Council’s Sports Development Team on 01604 837774, email sportsdevelopment@northampton.gov.uk or visit their website www.northampton.gov.uk/sports.

Despite public opposition it has been confirmed that Queens Park Post Office will close.

Clearly by announcing these closures earlier than originally planned the Post Office has ignored the case put by local people to keep these offices open. The whole consultation process appears to have been a sham – less than a month has been taken to look at people’s responses and decide which looks suspiciously like a decision that had already been made.

It seems that the Post Office was simply running a ‘numbers game’ where people don’t matter. How hollow their current advertising slogan now sounds.

The Labour Government clearly wanted to close 2,500 across the Country and that means closing offices in Northampton despite the strong cases made to keep them open. Labour MP Sally Keeble has supported her Governments plans for the Post Office in Parliament yet campaigned against the closures in Northampton. Clearly she has misled people by making them think there was a chance to change her Government’s plans – when there was not. She needs to explain her position.

Local Lib Dem Councillors will continue to do all we can to fight these closure plans.

At the request of local residents the Council are looking to put a recycling facility in Arthur St for people who live in the flats. This is good news, and I hope it will be used by people who live in the Webbs factory too. When the site has been agreed, the council will inform residents by leaflet.

Queens Park Post Office on Kingsley Rd is one of 8 Post Offices in Northampton set to close. Queens Park is used by many residents in Kingsthorpe, and is a result of Government policy to close thousands of post offices nationally. Lib Dem councillors will be campaigning strongly against these closures. Andrew is organising an online petition at www.andrew-simpson.org.uk

The County Council has decided to market the site of Raeburn Special School after the school has moved to its new site at Tiffield. Local residents are campaigning to keep the site for community use. There are no childrens play areas or community facilities in the area. The Focus team are supporting the campaign and Richard Church has spoken up at a recent County Council meeting in support of a petition presented by local community activist Karen Lennon.

The County Council are funding repairs to footpaths across the Racecourse. Work will start in the new year to improve the main footpaths used to cross the park. This follows on from the upgrade of lighting in the park 2 years ago. This is good news, and is another step towards making the park a safer and more inviting place for people of all ages.

The Healthy Living Hub project is a plan to create a future for the Racecourse as a community base for helthy living, including walking, cycling, sport a community cafe and green gym. Visit their website .

Andrew Simspn are invloved in the Friends of Northampton Racecourse community group which brings together local resdients and users of the Racecourse as well as the Racecourse Partnership, which brings together public bodies and voluntary groups with an interest in the future of the park.