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’.