31 October 2022

A derelict supermarket will soon be demolished to make way for additional parking spaces in the heart of Towcester town centre.

The supermarket in the Sponne Arcade known locally as the old Co-op or Poundstretcher has stood empty since September 2018 and has fallen into disrepair.

The site, which already includes 70 parking spaces, was bought by former South Northamptonshire Council (SNC) in July 2020 and West Northamptonshire Council is now completing the project.

Work is set to commence today Monday, 31 October and is expected to be complete by Spring 2023.

“Towcester has low crime, good education and a great quality of life so lots of people want to live there, and there are thousands of homes being built.

"It’s not often that a prime, town centre location like this one becomes available, so it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. It will increase accessibility to shops and services and will help future-proof the town centre for the growing population."

Cllr Daniel Lister, WNC’s Cabinet Member for economic development, town centre regeneration and growth.

In addition to the demolition and expansion of the car park, the project will see the reconfiguration of the existing parking spaces to conform with modern standards.

Additional lighting, CCTV, landscaping, and work to walkways will also make the car park safer and more accessible. New motorbike parking and a bike shelter will also be included.

During the work, the car park will be closed for public use. WNC will continue to work with nearby businesses and residents to keep them fully informed of the project.

The public toilets managed by Towcester Town Council will also close during the work.

Once complete the short stay parking spaces will align with short stay restrictions elsewhere in the town: three hours free parking between 8am and 6pm, no return within three hours.

The number of disabled and family parking spaces will also be increased as part of the project which also includes the potential to expand upon the existing electric charging points installed in 2021.

SNC acquired the site for £775,000 using overage generated by the sale of the site of the former council offices in Springfields.

The demolition and works to expand the car park are funded by the WNC revenue and capital budgets.

A new rig that helps firefighters train to deal with real life fires has been installed at the Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service training centre in Chelveston.

The eight-tonne rig costs roughly £50,000 and is designed to withstand extreme heat as one of the units where firefighters carry out exercises that mimic real life scenarios.

New recruits on their Breathing Apparatus foundation course were among the first to use the new rig, taking part in a fire behaviour training demonstration.

The drill sees the unit and contents within it deliberately set ablaze by training managers to allow trainee firefighters to see how the fire develops within temperatures of almost 800 degrees Celsius. The old training unit (pictured above) has been moved and retained as a storage facility at the site.

Group Commander Mick Berry, a Training Department Manager at NFRS, said: “The new rig will help us to apply the new learning techniques which we’ve been training our firefighters on so that they can be the best that they can be in a safe environment.”

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold added: “This asset will continue to enhance the professional development of our firefighters, and also help the Service carry out its important work in keeping members of our community safe.”

27 October 2022

West Northamptonshire Council is getting ready for harsher weather conditions as Kier Highways, the council’s highways provider, deploys its fleet of gritters to take on precautionary gritting routes.

The contractor activated winter working protocols in mid-October, with the season set to run through to April next year.

The gritters, which are powered by sustainably sourced Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), will cover 1102 miles (2473km) of the councils’ road network - which is the distance of driving from Northampton to Venice.

The Council has reserves of 5,500 tonnes of salt, with nearly 900 grit bins across the region filled for use on public roads and footpaths.

“With temperatures due to drop in the coming weeks, we are working with Kier Highways to ensure that we are prepared for our winter season. We have ensured our salt stocks are high, and that we have all vehicles and our brilliant drivers ready to dispatch.

“We are committed to working with Kier Highways to make West Northamptonshire's roads as safe as possible so that people can travel with minimum delay and disruption, whatever the weather throws at us this winter."

Cllr Phil Larratt, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste

The fleet of gritters uses HVO with immediate effect, which reduces the carbon produced from combustion engines by up to 90% compared to diesel. The move demonstrates Kier Highways and WNC’s shared commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

Enhanced weather forecasting and temperature readings will be taken via weather stations and sensors set out along West Northamptonshire’s roads, with updates sent every 15 minutes.

Through route-based forecasting, roads will be treated if the temperatures are forecasted to drop below 0.5C.

The gritters are also fitted with advanced GPS technology which requires only one person to operate the vehicle in clear conditions, by accumulating route data and reporting back to the office to ensure that works are safely delivered.

“The UK faces increasingly unpredictable weather year-on-year. Even once a road has received a gritting treatment, the salt requires activation from the movement of vehicles – so road users should remain vigilant.

“With crews on standby 24/7, we’re confident in the steps that we’ve taken to be winter-ready, and we actively encourage feedback from the community to help us to continue to deliver a resilient and reliable service.

“Through close collaboration with WNC, we’re pleased to deliver an efficient and value-for-money service, with sustainability in-mind.”

John Coombes, general manager at Kier Highways

As stocks run low, people can also report bins that need refilling via the Street Doctor service.

People can keep up to date with highways and travel news for West Northamptonshire Council highways on Twitter and Facebook via @WNHighways.

Learn more at Kier Highways.

International Control Room Week (October 24-30) is a unique opportunity to showcase the department that is hailed as the ‘cog’ of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Our 16 Control Room staff are based at the Fire Control Room above the Command Development Centre that neighbours Daventry Fire Station, and have been for the last nine years since moving from Moulton. There are four members for each of the four Watches – Red, Green, Blue and White.

“It’s a lot more than answering the phones to members of the public,” explains Scott Hirons, who manages the Control Room team as well as being Station Manager at Daventry.

“The Control Room is the cog for the Fire Service as we wouldn’t turn out to any incidents without them. They gather all the information which allows us to pinpoint what incident type we will be attending, and that then allows us to supply the right resources for that incident.”

Upon receiving a 999 call from a member of the public, one of the members of the Watch on duty will allocate appliances, officers and crews from more than 130 different incident types. These range from house fires to road traffic collisions, animal rescues or floods. They will also gather information from the person who has called up and offer any lifesaving advice and guidance, and a cool head is needed as the callers can often be witnessing distressing scenes.

A member of the Control Room will then effectively act as the Incident Commander until an engine, or an officer, arrives at the incident. They will then support until the end by logging decisions, relaying information and essentially connecting everyone attending the incident together.

One of the members of the Control Room team is Nicky Evans, who is on Blue Watch. She says: “I enjoy working for the local Service and working on behalf of the community – it gives you a real sense of job satisfaction knowing that you have helped someone.”

It’s not just 999 calls though, as the Control Room team help other departments out of hours and will complete administrative work for the Service. They will also occasionally take calls from other parts of the country. The Control Room team in Northamptonshire partners with Warwickshire so that one acts as back-up for the other if they have an overflow of calls.

During the summer they also took calls from services including London Fire Brigade as part of Operation Willow Beck, which redistributes national 999 calls into Fire and Rescue Service Control rooms across the country during times of significant demand.

The hard work and tenacity of the Control Room staff during this summer’s heatwave culminated in a Commendation from the Chief Fire Officer to the whole department at the recent NFRS Annual Awards ceremony.

To put this into context, in the week commencing August 7 the Control Room took 802 calls and assigned crews to 328 different incidents. That compares to 248 calls and 204 incidents in the same week 12 months earlier in 2021.

Scott Hirons said: “We took a record number of calls, and it did feel non-stop for a long period of time. But the Control Room team were absolutely amazing, and I can’t praise all the staff here enough. They were overwhelmed but they decided to work extra hours instead of going home, and we didn’t ask them to do that. But they did it because they are proud of what they do, and they wanted to support their colleagues.”

He added: “The public will never see them as they are never on the incident ground. So you could say they are the unseen people of the Fire Service, but they are fundamental to everything we do. We are very proud of them, and we cherish everything they do.”

25 October 2022

Between 12 and 16 September 2022, the Care Quality commission (CQC) carried out an inspection of the Reablement West service. The service was rated as ‘Good’ overall; receiving this rating across all five of their key areas; safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.

The Reablement West service provides vital care and support to people upon discharge from hospital to enable them to continue to live confidently and independently in their own homes. The service carries out individual need assessments to ensure the correct care and support is in place for the individual to help them live independently and reduce the likeliness of hospital re-admission.

The CQC recognised the service emphasis of promoting independence to people to enable them to remain in their own homes. People receiving the service, were involved in the decision making, ensuring that the Reablement provided was in the least restrictive way possible. In addition, the care provided was recognised as person-centred, dignified, and respectful with people feeling like they were listened to.

“The ‘Good’ rating received by the CQC is a great achievement and showcases the tremendous efforts and commitment the team has to delivering high quality patient care that is focused on individual need. This is an integral service to those who require immediate support to live independently in their own home and it is encouraging to see the team recognised for the care they provide.”Cllr Matt Golby, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

For full details of the ratings please view the report published on the CQC website at Reablement West - Care Quality Commission.

The Reablement West service is expanding its team and is recruiting for ‘Reablement Support Officer’s! This role is to help people set and meet their goals, as well as support people to connect with their community by helping them become more independent outside of their home. This is a great opportunity to join a highly rated team that provides quality care and values staff development. See Reablement support for more information on the role and how to apply.