I’VE TALKED to residents round the lift tower.  I have the following comments to make to the Borough Council about the planning application to make the temporary planning permission for abseiling from the lift tower permanent: 1  Residents are very keen that that the number of abseiling events being permitted is NOT increased significantly in […]

LOCAL RESIDENTS attending the March meeting of the St James Residents’ Association complained of the state of so many garages in the area. There are 1,800 empty council-owned garages in Northampton, and at a time when people are keen to rent a garage from the Northampton Borough Council, the council has many, many garages that […]

A PUBLIC MEETING is being held on Tuesday 18 February at 6pm in the Guildhall to discuss the plan to open the top part of Abington Street to traffic. SO Far 90% of voters have said “NO” to these plans in on an on-line poll by the Northampton Herald and Post. 17 shops in this […]

AT THE ST JAMES RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION meeting on 11 December a representative from the borough council answered questions about recycling and the green bag rubbish collections. Some local residents have not yet received their supplies of green bags. Black bags will no longer be collected, and will be treated as fly tipping. If you haven’t […]

The current number of dwellings on this estate is 189 with 60, almost a third, in Harcourt Way and the next largest number, 32, in Hunsbury Hill Avenue. The proposed development is for 71 new dwellings, a 37.6% increase in numbers. I understand that about 25 of these (35%) will be ‘affordable’ and are likely to […]

On May 16 I had a fascinating experience. I went to the first ever West Hunsbury Parish Council meeting (which falls in my County Council Division of Sixfields). This is the parish council that most residents didn’t want – including almost all the elected councillors. Most of the candidates that said they wanted a parish […]

“I’m getting very worried about Northampton at the moment” writes County Councillor Richard Church. It’s not that it doesn’t have much going for it, because it does. It’s got a strong work force, it’s located fantastically, it’s got beautiful architecture, a proud history, art galleries, theatres, shops, restaurants, and residents that want to thrive, and […]

Cllr Richard Church has slammed the Tories failure over the Grosvenor Centre in a letter to the local press. Richard writes: “I am delighted to see that Conservative Council leader David Mackintosh says he will do anything to save the Grosvenor Centre redevelopment. I just hope he actually means it. A year ago, the incoming […]

LOCAL residents turned their backs on the local Tories in two recent council by-elections. Towcester’s previous county councillor moved 200 miles away to Cornwall, but she remained on the council, claiming £7,000 a year in allowances. Then the Tories had the nerve to waste £3,000 of taxpayers’ money on an oil painting to commemorate her […]

AS PART OF the Liberal Democrats campaign for a second term at The Guildhall we want one council running town services. These are currently being run by two councils – the Borough Council and County Council – Ridiculous! This means much duplication of administration and other resources and wastes money. But there is another good reason. […]