Archive for category: News

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is progressing proposals to relocate the majority of its office workers to its base in One Angel Square (OAS), Northampton.

The Council will also continue to enhance its locality hubs at The Abbey in Daventry and The Forum, Towcester whilst also building on the success of its recent Customer Service drop-in events for residents of Brackley.

The moves follow a thorough review which identified the Council has significantly more office space than it requires, along with a need to change how it uses its buildings to better support residents.

Council staff currently based in the modern part of the Guildhall in Northampton and some teams currently working from The Forum in Towcester will relocate to OAS in stages during 2024 and early 2025 and Northampton’s One Stop Shop will also move from the Guildhall to the lower ground floor of OAS, resulting in a more modern and accessible service for residents.

The Council will retain the older, historic Guildhall and it will continue to house the Coroner’s Office, committee and meeting rooms.

The plans follow the successful relocation of services from Lodge Road, Daventry in the summer, and development of the nearby Abbey Centre into a locality hub including Adults, Children’s and other frontline WNC services joining community and voluntary partners.

Councillor Jonathan Nunn, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council said: “Changes to the way we work and how we deliver our services mean we have a lot more office space than we need, so it makes real sense for us to review our buildings and it’s what taxpayers would expect us to do.

“Bringing more of our colleagues together into a central Northampton office will enable us to collaborate and innovate to deliver better services for all our residents. As we continue moving towards our commitment to become net zero by 2030, it will also help us reduce our carbon footprint as well as our running and maintenance costs to improve value for money for our residents.

“To align with the changing needs of our community, we are also reshaping how we provide services in localities across West Northants, by working with our partners in places such as locality hubs, warm and welcoming spaces, libraries and with outreach teams. An important part of these proposals is around further developing our locality hubs in Towcester and Daventry and considering additional hub locations for the future.

“Our plans for a modernised and progressive One Stop Shop at One Angel Square will offer better facilities and support for both our residents and our staff and will add further value to our existing offer, which already includes customer drop-in sessions across West Northants.

Once services have relocated from the modern part of the Guildhall during 2024 and 2025, the Council will be looking at disposal options for these surplus offices as it seeks to achieve efficiency savings for taxpayers. The historic part of the Guildhall is not included in these proposals.

Northampton Town Council will continue to operate from the old part of the Guildhall under the current lease arrangements which run until April 2025. WNC will then require the space to accommodate its committees, meetings and other services and will be working with the Town Council to explore suitable alternative locations for the authority when the current lease ends.

Further financial information around the future office proposals will be presented to Cabinet members at their meeting in January.

This capital funding pays for projects including new infrastructure, buildings and equipment and is separate from the revenue budget the Council spends on the day-to-day running of services, which includes funding from Council Tax.

Cllr Jonathan Nunn, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said: “We’re always looking to invest in innovative and efficient ways to support and deliver services, and using capital budgets to not only improve our local communities but help us make ongoing savings or generate new income is something we’re particularly focusing on.

“Creating a more sustainable West Northants is a key priority for us. As part of this commitment, in 2024 we are proposing to allocate £4 million towards heat decarbonisation initiatives across three key sites: Danescamp, Abington Park Museum, and Everdon Field Centre. This investment will aim to enable these sites to generate a portion of their electricity consumption onsite, resulting in long-term cost savings and a reduced carbon footprint. We are also investing in large-scale solar technology to reduce emissions and dramatically cut energy bills as we work towards our commitment to be net zero by 2030.

“Undertaking these transformative initiatives supports our aims for a sustainable, prosperous and vibrant West Northants, with innovation and efficiency going hand in hand.”

Alongside these projects, the draft budget also includes investments in a range of areas including continuing our highways maintenance and improvement programme – as well as an additional £1.9m from Government towards road repairs and replacing the publicly-accessible computer network across our libraries.

The Council is steadfast in its dedication to economic growth with ongoing projects, including Northampton Market Square’s transformation through multi-million-pound investment, revitalising the town centre via the Government’s Towns Fund.

Beyond the capital programme, the Council remains committed to residents’ well-being, addressing health inequalities, and supporting communities through the challenges posed by the ongoing cost of living crisis, with initiatives funded through government public health funding.

Our Cabinet will consider the full range of General Fund Capital proposals during their meeting at The Forum, Towcester, from 6pm on Tuesday, 12 December – this can be watched live via the Council’s YouTube Channel.

The full 2024/25 draft budget reports are available at Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday, 12 December 2023.

The Strategy will provide a clear framework for managing the council’s trees, as well as a strategic and proactive vision and action plan for maximising the benefits of trees into the future.

The views of people and organisations across West Northamptonshire will help to ensure that the policy reflects the needs and aspirations of the local community.

In celebration of National Tree Week 2023 (November 27 – December 4), and to mark the commencement of this important project, WNC has launched a public consultation giving residents, businesses and other stakeholders a chance to have a say. The consultation launched on 29 November will run until 1 January.

Also marking this landmark project, Cllr Phil Larratt, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways & Waste, will be joined by Friends of Abington Park to plant a majestic redwood tree within the scenic grounds of Abington Park on Thursday 30 November.

Cllr Phil Larratt, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste at WNC said: “We are delighted to launch this consultation to seek the views of our communities on how we manage existing trees and plant the right new tree in the right place across the area and implement a tree strategy for West Northamptonshire.

“National tree week provides the ideal opportunity to launch this, and commemorate the occasion by planting a new tree. It highlights the importance of creating a diverse and resilient treescape for the future, as well as the import role played by volunteers and all those who dedicate their time caring for our natural environment.”

The feedback from the consultation will help to inform the next steps and a further survey in the new year. To have your say visit: https://westnorthants.citizenspace.com/place/give-us-your-views-on-our-tree-strategy