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10 April 2024
West Northamptonshire’s fleet of highways machinery is preparing to roll out the summer road maintenance programme, focusing on major projects that require warm and dry weather conditions.
Like many councils, West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) faces the challenge of roads deteriorating during cold and wet winter weather, needing urgent action. Over the years, here as well as elsewhere, there has been a gradual decline in road conditions due to available budgets and funding not being able to keep up. WNC is prioritising essential work, alongside a comprehensive maintenance plan for the year. However, adverse weather conditions, including record rainfall since October, have hindered schedules.
WNC and its highways partner, Kier, will carry out various projects across West Northamptonshire, including road resurfacing, patching, improving surface drainage systems, enhancing our green spaces and increasing biodiversity, cleaning gullies, and emergency repairs.
In the coming summer months, in addition to essential road repairs and maintenance, major resurfacing schemes already scheduled, include the following locations:
- Yardley Gobion - A508 Northampton
- Daventry - Long March Roundabout
- West Haddon - Northampton Road
- Brackley - Radstone Road
- Blisworth - Stoke Road (3533)
- Northampton - A5123 Towcester Road
- Northampton - A508 London Road
- Northampton - A508 Harborough Road
- Everdon - Farthingstone Road.
Further information and a full rundown of schemes for the year ahead will be listed in the annual plan, which will be published shortly.
“We understand people’s frustration with the current condition of the roads, and we apologise for this. Maintaining our roads is a significant task, especially during the wet and cold winter months. Therefore, spring through to autumn is when we can undertake most of the necessary work.”Cllr Jonathan Nunn, Leader of WNC“It’s a real challenge for all councils to balance competing priorities with our limited budgets. We allocate £26m annually across our road and transport services, but this only stretches so far. Resurfacing all roads in West Northants would cost approximately £250 million, while our total budget for running all services, including supporting vulnerable children and adults, is just over £400 million per year.”
“This is why we've invested in new technology, such as the Pothole Pro machine, which has significantly improved the volume and quality of repairs. As a result of finding ways to use this machine more efficiently, we expect that this year the machine will use 16 tonnes of repair material per day, up from the 9 tonnes last year which was the amount anticipated when the machine was bought.”
In the Daventry area, whose road conditions were recently highlighted nationally by the ‘Daventry Banksie’ campaigner, WNC has received nearly 4,000 reports in the past six months. We’ve attended around 500 emergencies, repaired 2,500 defects, and completed over 10,000 square meters of road repairs.“In the past year, we've completed four major road repair schemes in the area, with further resurfacing work planned for this month. However, this work must be conducted in warmer weather to prevent repairs from failing. Some repairs of particular concern to Daventry residents are on busy roundabouts. We've repaired some already, with a further key roundabout scheduled for deeper repair later this month, as warmer spring weather is essential for proper repairs.”
“Considering these challenges, we continue to seek ways of increasing the money we have available for road repairs. We also welcome the news of the £162 million allocation from central government over the next seven years for our wider road network, as part of the HS2 phase 2 cancellation. We eagerly await further details on when we will get this money, the profile of how much we will get in each of the next seven years, and what criteria will be placed on the use of it, so we can start to use it on the local road and transport priorities that are important to us and to West Northants residents.”
For more information on major highway projects, upcoming works, or to report a defect, visit our parking, roads and transport page
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08 April 2024
People across West Northamptonshire are being invited to have their say on the draft Local Plan strategy which enables West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to plan for the future of the area positively and sustainably by guiding decisions on future development proposals and creating places where people wish to live, work and visit and will thrive.
The draft Plan sets out a vision and objectives for the area, its ambitions for new development and commitment to dealing with climate change. The Plan allocates land for housing and employment and contains a series of planning policies for these and many other topics such as leisure, transport, health and wellbeing, infrastructure and the environment and where development can and cannot take place.
Once adopted the new Plan will replace current plans that cover West Northamptonshire and form part of the development plan against which planning decisions are made.
This consultation is gives residents the opportunity to get involved with this stage of the local plan process and will help WNC consider and address issues before a final draft is produced.
People can have their say from Monday 8 April to Sunday 2 June by visiting the Local Plan consultation.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for local businesses, residents and community groups to help shape the future of planning across West Northamptonshire.Cllr Rebecca Breese, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Built Environment and Rural Affairs“The local plan provides the guiding principles for new development, dedicated green spaces and infrastructure across the area; and has an impact on everyone’s lives across the area. We invite the community to review the plans and have their say.”
The Plan is still being prepared, evidence gathered, and proposals considered, and WNC invite comments on the fully developed policies, the partly developed policies and any other parts of the Plan including allocations for housing and employment growth and guidance that applies to your area.
The draft Plan is accompanied by a number of technical documents and other evidence. All can be found on the dedicated New Local Plan for West Northamptonshire page.
The evidence will continue to be updated as the Plan progresses.
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09 April 2024
Today (9 April) marks 500 days to go until the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the biggest-ever celebration of women’s international rugby, which will see matches take place in front of a worldwide audience at Northampton’s cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
To mark this momentous day, local women and girls joined members of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), Northampton Saints and West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens for the launch of Impact ’25, the RFU’s transformational legacy programme which aims to grow rugby throughout the country, delivered in partnership with UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport.
The multi-million-pound programme will provide substantial improvements in facilities and greater opportunities for females at all levels of the game and has already seen £12.13m of Government funding committed to women and girls’ grassroots rugby.
Attendees at the event, hosted by Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning, were able to take part in girls’ non-contact Rugby, led by Lightning players and Saints community coaches, as well as watch the ‘Heart of the Game’ Rugby World Cup trailer produced by local sixth form students from the Bee Hive SEND vocational college for Northampton Film Festival.
“We are extremely excited to welcome the Women’s Rugby World Cup to West Northamptonshire next year and it was great to experience a taste of what is to come at today’s Impact ’25 launch event.Cllr Adam Brown, Deputy Leader of WNC and Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture and Leisure“This major tournament will bring huge benefits to our area, not only attracting visitors from around the world and showcasing West Northamptonshire's unique rugby culture to millions of viewers, but also encouraging more people to get active and building women and girls’ participation in both Rugby and other sports by providing a wealth of new sporting opportunities.”
“We were absolutely over the moon to be selected as one of the host venues for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, and as the tournament approaches, that excitement continues to build.Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of Northampton Saints“Participation in women’s and girls’ rugby throughout our region has never been higher, and the audience for the sport is growing all the time. We are delighted to have played a part in that through our partnership with Loughborough Lightning and our community outreach programmes, as well as by hosting women’s international matches in Northampton in 2021 and 2023.
“We hope bringing several World Cup matches to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in 2025 will have a transformational effect on rugby in our region – and with 500 days now to go until the tournament gets underway, it’s fantastic to see the Impact ’25 legacy programme also get up and running today.
“We are confident the Women’s Rugby World Cup and Impact ’25 can inspire the next generation of female players and create a lasting legacy of success for women’s rugby and the local community in Northampton and beyond.
“Everyone at Saints is grateful to West Northamptonshire Council for their collaboration in helping us host this event and launch Impact ’25 in Northampton, as well as to the RFU, UK Government and Sport England for their funding and support.”
“The opportunity to grow the women’s game was a primary driver behind our bid to host Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, and we are very grateful to Government for committing funding to this transformational programme as part of the tournament.Bill Sweeney, CEO, RFU“Working together with Government, UK Sport, Sport England and World Rugby we will create a legacy for women’s rugby in England and the home nations, both in terms of attracting more fans and people to play, coach, officiate, and volunteer.
“We are already seeing huge strides forwards being made thanks to Impact ‘25 and look forward to seeing further progress over the coming months and years.”
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08 April 2024
As we enter the spring and summer months, West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is looking at ways it can help promote environmental awareness for the natural environment and gain further understanding on how people locally support national campaigns to enhance biodiversity.
Last year, WNC supported the national campaign run by Plantlife, No Mow May. The Council will again be supporting the campaign this year in May and will be enabling some of the green spaces it looks after to grow wildly for May, where safe and reasonable to do so.
People across West Northamptonshire are being asked to share their views on the national campaign and let the Council know if they take part in these, so that it can gain a better understanding of how West Northamptonshire residents positively impacted biodiversity.
The six-week online engagement will take place from Monday 8 April to Sunday 19 May, and people can have their say here: https://westnorthants.citizenspace.com/cet/no-mow-may
“Creating areas for our wildlife is important, the best time to do this is in late spring although we encourage this all-year round. Birds, bats, beetles, butterflies and other wildlife are pollinators, this means that they are needed for flowers and crops to reproduce or produce food. Without pollinators we would not have an agricultural economy, which means we would not have a food supply, it would also greatly change the natural environment and surrounding landscapes.Cllr Phil Larratt, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste at WNC“We allow verges to grow where this doesn’t cause an obstruction, however, we take account of pedestrians and traffic by cutting the necessary amount of grass verge to make it safe.
“I would encourage anyone who has supported these national campaigns or is interested in finding out how they can support biodiversity in their area to fill out the online form and help shape the future of wildlife in West Northants.”
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08 April 2024
Two closure orders have been secured at addresses in Northampton after they were suspected to have been cuckooed.
The first of these orders was secured at an address in Pendle Road, Northampton, on March 13, and the second was secured on March 28 at an address in Latymer Court, Northampton.
Both addresses were targeted by Northamptonshire Police and West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) via a joint operation after a number of reports that the occupants of both properties were being cuckooed by known drug users.
'Cuckooing' is a crime in which drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person in order to use it as a base.
Reports made by local residents regarding both properties involved concerns for the vulnerable tenants, the increase in anti-social behaviour around the properties, and increased incidents of suspected drug dealing and drug use.
Both closure orders will be in place for three months with no one except the resident, the Council, and the emergency services allowed inside the property.
Since the closure order was issued, two men have been charged in connection with breaching it.
“I am pleased that we have managed to secure these closure orders as they protect the vulnerable residents and make the general area a nicer place to live for everyone else.PC Grace Manwaring“Tackling cuckooing is really important to us as neighbourhood policing officers and I’d like to thank the local communities in both of these areas who provided us with the information we needed to obtain these orders.
“If you have any concerns about problem addresses in your local area, please contact us. Although it may seem like nothing is happening following your initial report, please know that behind the scenes, the team will be putting together a plan to tackle the issues.”
“Through a great partnership effort we have been able to work with the police to take positive action against cuckooing and prevent any further anti-social behaviour at these properties.Cllr David Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement, and Regulatory Services“These Orders will make a huge difference to the quality of life for local residents while serving as a reminder to people that anti-social behaviour in any form will not be tolerated in West Northamptonshire.”
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