Archive for category: News

As part of the project, Kier will carry out vital works to enhance and improve the appearance and paving of Abington Street and Fish Street through delivering new paving and seating, additional tree planting, enhanced landscaping, and the introduction of new lighting.

With investigatory works starting in September, and preparatory works set for November, once complete the project will positively revitalise one of the busiest commercial and pedestrian routes through the town’s main shopping street.

Kier and WNC are liaising directly with businesses in the area to keep them up to date on the progress of works. As part of this, there will be a dedicated single point of contact for businesses throughout the project.

The redevelopment will complement the wider regeneration of the town centre, including the Market Square transformation, and provide enhanced connectivity with the rest of the town.

Cllr Dan Lister, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Town Centre Regeneration and Growth at WNC, said: “We are pleased to be working with Kier who we already have an established relationship with as they carry out this significant project to one of the busiest shopping streets in our area.

“The plans are intended to help this area adapt to the changing face of the high street by encouraging cafe culture, supporting retail and creating more appealing and flexible surroundings for visitors and those who live in the town centre. The enhanced features and appearance, as well as new facilities, will offer a fantastic space for people to use and enjoy. We look forward to this taking shape in the coming weeks and months as works start on site later this year.”

The project will be led by Kier, which manages and maintains West Northamptonshire’s roads.

John Coombes, General Manager at Kier Transportation added: “We’re really proud of the work we’re delivering with West Northamptonshire Council and are delighted to be working with them to carry out this project to revitalise the town centre. We will use our skills and experience to help create a space where people will want to come to live, work and socialise.”

To stay up to date with the regeneration of Northampton Town Centre, visit: www.wearenorthampton.com

On Tuesday, (19th September) WNC will review the Public Spaces Protection Order that is currently in place in Daventry and South Northants areas, with a view to it also covering Northampton area. If approved, the order will come into force on 3 October 2023 until October 2025.

Cllr David Smith, WNC’s Cabinet Member for community safety and engagement and regulatory services said: “Public open spaces should be enjoyed by everyone. By encouraging responsible dog ownership and limiting where people can smoke in certain open spaces such as play areas, we can create a cleaner, safer and more pleasant area for everyone to enjoy.

“The PSPO gives the council the ability to ensure that the public can use and enjoy these public spaces and will help to make West Northamptonshire a better and safer place to live and work.”

The PSPO means dog owners could be fined £100 if they fail to:

• pick up their dog’s mess and dispose of it properly
• carry the means to pick up after their dog
• prevent their dog from entering public places from which dogs are excluded, including children’s play areas, schools, skateparks, tennis courts, multi-use games areas (MUGAs) and bowling greens
• keep their dog on a lead when in Northampton Town Centre, Upton Country Park Phase 2 (the land between Kislingbury and Upton), cemeteries, burial sites, graveyards, memorial gardens, allotments, car parks, sports grounds, fields and pitches – when in use for authorised sporting activity
• put their dog on a lead when asked to do so by an authorised officer

The order also restricts a person from walking more than four dogs at any one time in a public open space and prohibits smoking in children’s play areas, land near schools, skateparks; tennis courts; multi-use games areas (MUGAs) and bowling greens.

There are a number of other PSPOs already covering various parts of West Northamptonshire. To find out more about the public space protection orders and view the draft order visit https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/pspo

At their meeting on Tuesday, 19 September, Cabinet members will consider proposals to add a series of new performance indicators – measures that chart how the Council is delivering upon its corporate priorities.  This forms part of a commitment to provide residents with even greater transparency on its service delivery, and more detail on the Council’s ongoing work to continuously improve and address critical challenges such as the increasing demand for services for vulnerable adults, children, and young people, as well as tackling homelessness.

An additional 27 new performance indicators are proposed for the Corporate Plan, with a range of the key drivers for these including:

• Adapting to regulatory changes – over the past 12 months, several government departments have put in place changes that not only impact how the Council is inspected, but have also altered national performance indicators and the way performance data is collected
• Providing more in-depth measures for adult social care, children’s and education services.  This will allow WNC to highlight areas of strength and ensure that they continue to perform well, whilst also ensuring greater transparency by identifying those areas requiring improvement and the plans in place to improve them.

The Council reports its performance on a quarterly basis from April each year, with Cabinet members set to receive an update on the progress the authority has made during its first quarter of the year.

Councillor Jonathan Nunn, Leader of the West Northamptonshire Council, said: “We are making further encouraging progress in improving our services this year. However, there are always challenges, and we are dedicated to addressing them head-on. Changing the way we report our performance is an essential step in our journey towards greater transparency. It demonstrates that we’re not afraid to make those challenges known, but also that we have robust plans in place for continuous improvement across our services.”

Key highlights of the Q1 progress update to Cabinet include the following:

• Leisure centres welcomed over 568,000 visitors, representing an increase of 24,000 in visitors compared to the same period last year
• Our focus on equipping and supporting young adults to continue to live in their own homes in their own communities means we have needed to place fewer adults in care homes than other East Midlands local authorities – exceeding our target at just 2.3 people per 100k population
• The current number of children on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) supported by the Council is 3,391, an increase of 356 from the same point last year. This volume and increasing complexity provides an insight into some of the Council’s challenges in this area.
• A significant increase in both physical and virtual visitors to libraries with over 221,000 physical visitors
• Improved performance in processing planning applications with 87.5% of major planning applications processed within 13 weeks and 80.3% of non-major planning applications processed within eight weeks, against the national target of 70%.

A full report including key metrics and performance indicators is available on our website.

Cllr Nunn added: “We are pleased with the significant progress we’ve achieved this year following a successful second year of delivering services as highlighted in our annual report, although of course we acknowledge that there is still work to be done. The enhancement to how we report our performance not only increases openness to the information that residents can see, but also demonstrates the robust plans we have in place to continue our journey of improvement.”

Residents can find more information on past year’s achievements and the plans and aspirations for the current year in our annual report.

“Since the Government’s announcement last week about the heightened dangers of this material in buildings, we have accelerated that process.

“Whilst liaising with the Department for Education (DfE), we have been made aware that Northampton International Academy could be impacted, and we will be supporting the school to ensure it does all it can to continue providing education in a safe and effective way.

“We have also become aware that Royal & Derngate is affected and, as the building’s landlord, we are investigating the extent of this. In the meantime, the theatre is not able to welcome audiences under the current guidance. We know this will be very disappointing for those who have tickets for upcoming shows.

“Public safety is our first concern, and we must take action where there is any risk to that. We will move as quickly as we can to determine the scale of work required to help get these buildings back into operation and we are asking for everyone’s patience while we carry out this vital work.”