For too long, Labour and Conservative Councillors, backed by their colleagues in Westminster, have neglected our town centre by allowing ever more out-of-town retail development, raising car parking charges and failing to invest in our town to attract the businesses, jobs and growth we need.

Since the Lib Dems’ Guildhall election win in 2007, we have frozen shoppers’ parking charges, reduced prices on Sundays, invested in the Market Square and signed an agreement for a massive expansion of the Grosvenor Centre.

Now our policies are coming under fire, with Conservative Councillors, supported by local MP, Brian Binley, opposing our firm stand against yet more out-of-town retail.

Conservatives say we should encourage supermarket developments outside our town centre that would destroy the town’s remaining small and medium-sized businesses and allow a handful of multi-nationals to take control of our shopping. In doing so, they are questioning our plans to redevelop the Grosvenor Centre and nearby Greyfriars Bus Station to provide a shopping centre fit for the 21st Century.

Lib Dems at the Guildhall have decided that it is time for a full and frank debate about the future of our town centre. We have invited Brian Binley MP to an open debate. He has accepted our invitation and will go head-to-head with Lib Dem Planning Spokesperson, Richard Church.

The debate will be completely free flowing. Anyone is welcome to attend and ask a question. With big differences between Liberal Democrat and Conservative plans for Northampton, this is sure to be a lively debate.

Places are limited so if you would like to attend, please email towncentredebate@northampton.gov.uk to reserve up to two tickets.

This is a vitally important moment for the future of our town. I hope you will be able to come along and join the debate.

By next winter, the Conservative County Council plan to cut the standard of winter gritting. We can only hope it won’t be so cold!

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.

Lib Dems will continue to make the point that academies are being imposed on Northampton schools by a Labour Government and a Conservative County Council without the support of the people who use the school. It is time our schools were given the support and the stability to do the job without constant meddling from outside.

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.

We are awaiting a reply on why, despite promises, this work has not been done.

The next dates are:-

Co-op Kingsley Park Terrace Thursday 19th November 2.30pm-4.30pm

10th of every month (next is on Thursday 10th December) Morrisions Supermarket 5pm-7pm

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

Visit the Umbrella Fair website for more information

From 12:00 ‘til 2am on the Racecourse

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.

Andrew and Richard have both spoken against the plans pushed through by Conservative County councillors at the first opportunity since they were re-elected. ’The Conservatives have shown little interest in the views of parents, pupils or teachers at the school’ said Richard Church.  Mr Ross already runs one school in Grimsby which is performing little better than Unity. How can we have any confidence that he knows as much about running a school as selling mobile phones?

Richard Church (Liberal Democrat) 709

Eamon Fitzpatrick (Independent) 493

Labour 463

Conservative 457

Green 284

Thank You to everyone who voted in this election

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.

This year Richard Church and Lib Dem County councillors proposed an additional £3 million to tackle potholes and broken pavements. Our proposal was voted down by the ruling County Tories.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Plans can be viewed on the Borough Council’s website www.northampton.gov.uk . The reference number for the application is N/2008/0757. Let me know your views.

Richard will be consulting local residents on the proposed locations. Meanwhile, is you know of any other sites where a tree could be planted, let us know.

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.

“It has been a fantastic year and I am very proud of the achievements of our councillors” writes Nick Clegg “The Council has made enormous progress in the last 12 months.”

A year since the Liberal Democrats took control of Northampton has been described as a year of solid achievement by Leader Cllr. Tony Woods “We inherited a council in a mess. A year ago Government inspectors had rated the council as one of the worst in the country, with weak political leadership and failure to deliver services people have a right to expect.”

“Three things stand out from our first year” said Tony Woods.

(1) The Council’s finances are under firmer control, with no cuts in this year’s budget.

(2) Day to day services such as planning, revenues and benefits, and housing management are at last showing real signs of improvement.

(3) We are setting in place firm foundations for the long term with progress on the Grosvenor centre and other key town centre projects.”

“We still have a long way to go” said Tony Woods. “We have more to do to persuade the people of Northampton that the council is improving. That will be our task in the year ahead.”

‘Putting the Pride back in Northampton -A year of Achievement’ A full briefing on the first year of Lib Dem run Northampton Borough Council can be downloaded from www.northamptonlibdems.org.uk