Richard Church

The arrow sculpture on the Racecourse was formally ‘launched’ today at a little cremony in the park. The university students who designed it, together with members of Friends of the Racecourse and the Healthy Living Hub came together at the arrow to talk about the project and what it has acheived.

It has been controversial, but it is now good to see students using it as a seat and children playing on it. The sphere make useful information points about the park and what it has to offer. The Healthy Living Hub project now continues with the appointment of a part time project worker on a short term contract to take the masterplan forward and seek funding to implement key elements of the plan which have popular support. We hope to have more information about this soon.

I have requested that funds given to County Councillors to support local projects be spent on replacing roadside trees in Kingsley. The full list of sites where new trees are planted to be planted this winter is as follows:-
Hazeldene Rd. No’s. 144 & 148
Collingwood Rd. No 69
The Drive No’s 14, 20/22, 16
The Crescent No 8
St Matthews Parade Opposite No 30, 79/81
East Park Parade Opposite lamp column No.22
Kenmuir Avenue No.42
Kingsley Rd No. 19A
Milton St. North green space (3 trees)
Kettering Rd. corner of Raeburn Rd (3 trees)
Kenmuir Crescent traffic island
Kenmuir Avenue/Wallace Rd junction (2 trees)
Park Avenue North No’s 2, 30, 82, 90, 120, 162

There are many more sites which have been suggested, but either underground cables prevent new trees being planted or existing tree stumps need to be removed and the site left to rest before a new tree can be planted. We hope to return to some of those sites in future years.

Appropriate species for each site have been carefully selected depending on the nature of the site. Strong trees will be planted with good protection against vandalism.

Let us know if you would like more information.

We get many complaints, particularly from elderly people, about cycling on pavements. Many cyclists don’t know it is an offence to cycle on pavements and it is a serious danger for both cyclists and pedestrians.

Over the next few weeks, the police are running a campaign along the length of the Kettering Road, and you will soon see signs going up to warn cyclists. Offenders face a £30 fixed penalty charge for cycling on the pavement.

Police officers in Kingsley are to have a hand held speed gun. Complaints of speeding in residential streets continue to rise, so I have allocated a small portion of my County Council funds to buy a hend held speed gun that can be used to target motorists in residential streets who are a danger and a nuisance on the roads.

When the purchase is complete, the speed gun will be operated by the Kingsley and Parklands Police safer communities team. Let us know of a particular street where you think speeding is a problem.

Following complaints by residents and local Lib Dem councillors, the council have insisted that a caravan permanently parked on Romany Road has been removed. As well as causing a eyesore in the street, an electric cable was lying across the pavement, causing a potential hazard to pedestrians.

Following discussions between Trinity Avenue residents and the University the plans have been ammended. Wednesday’s planning committee broadly supported the new plans, but a further period of consultation is needed before the new plans can be determined.

I am planning to spend a proportion of funds allocated to me by the County Council for local community projects on replacing roadside trees in Kingsley. I have put forward a list of locations where trees have been lost and the Council are looking at each site in turn before suggesting which sites should be a priority. Roads where there is space for new trees include Kettering Rd, Park Avenue North, Kenmuir Avenue, The Drive, The Crescent and Kingsley Rd. Trees in local streets make our environment much more pleasant, sadly, too many roadside trees have been lost and not replaced.

I will be consulting local residents on the proposed locations. Meanwhile, is you know of any other sites where a tree could be planted, let me know.

Looking for something for the Kids to do over the long summer holiday? There’s local courses in Badminton, Golf, Netball, Girls football, Athletics and Cricket at reasonable prices

In addition theres multi-sport activities on the Racecourse (meet at the changing rooms) and Kingsthorpe Rec (meet at the booking office) from 28th July to 22nd August for 5 to 12 year olds. 2 sessions per day 10am-12pm, 1.30pm-3.30pm. Sessions are £1 per child or 50p if they have a leisure card. For more information contact Northampton Borough Council’s Sports Development Team on 01604 837774, email sportsdevelopment@northampton.gov.uk or visit their website www.northampton.gov.uk/sports.

Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has sent a message of congratulations to Liberal Democrats in Northampton celebrating a year of success in turning round Northampton Borough Council.

“It has been a fantastic year and I am very proud of the achievements of our councillors” writes Nick Clegg “The Council has made enormous progress in the last 12 months.”

A year since the Liberal Democrats took control of Northampton has been described as a year of solid achievement by Leader Cllr. Tony Woods “We inherited a council in a mess. A year ago Government inspectors had rated the council as one of the worst in the country, with weak political leadership and failure to deliver services people have a right to expect.”

“Three things stand out from our first year” said Tony Woods.

(1) The Council’s finances are under firmer control, with no cuts in this year’s budget.

(2) Day to day services such as planning, revenues and benefits, and housing management are at last showing real signs of improvement.

(3) We are setting in place firm foundations for the long term with progress on the Grosvenor centre and other key town centre projects.”

“We still have a long way to go” said Tony Woods. “We have more to do to persuade the people of Northampton that the council is improving. That will be our task in the year ahead.”

‘Putting the Pride back in Northampton -A year of Achievement’ A full briefing on the first year of Lib Dem run Northampton Borough Council can be downloaded from www.northamptonlibdems.org.uk

The Council have announced plans to resurface Kettering Rd from the White Elephant to Chaucer St. Work is due to start in July, depending on the weather and progress on other work. It is expected that the work will be done over three weekends, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays (not Saturdays). On mid-week days work will be done on resufacing the road in Milton St.

Traffic will be diverted at certain times while work is underway. Northbound traffic will be sent via Kingsley Rd, Fairway and Kenmuir Avenue, southbound via Park Avenue, Abington Avenue and Abington Grove. It is expected that the restrictions will be lifted outside working hours