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.

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.

“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

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

Full details of the plan can be seen at www.healthylivinghub.org.uk

Funding for the proposals will need to be found, and there will be an opportunity for more comments and changes.

Originally the Post Office were not due to announce the decision on closures till March – they have taken less than a month since the consultation closed on 10th January to decide. This suggests to me that the whole process was a sham. It became clear to me during the consultation process that actually the Government’s plans for 2,500 closures across the country was being stuck to and regardless of local opinion, local circumstances and opposition offices would close.

The Post Office has failed to recognise Northampton’s position as growth area and the opportunity has been missed to secure a valuable community facility for the future.
Other post office closures announced include:

Boothville, Both Lane North
Broadmead Avenue, Eastfield
Brookside Centre, Billing Brook Road, Lumbertubs
Campbell Square, the Mounts
High Street, Weston Favell

I would like to thank all of you who signed the petition or sent in comments to try and stop the closures. These were all handed into the Post Office – it is a pity they didn’t listen.

Work is due to start in April and is likely to take eight weeks. The council have requested that drivers move their cars when requested to allow access, and there is bound to be some temporary inconvenience. Any queries before work begins, contact Stephen Goss on 01604 883449. One work has started contact Tony Gale on 01604 654644.

There are also plans to resurface the road after work on the footpaths are complete, but more information will follow.

Clearly by announcing these closures earlier than originally planned the Post Office has ignored the case put by local people to keep these offices open. The whole consultation process appears to have been a sham – less than a month has been taken to look at people’s responses and decide which looks suspiciously like a decision that had already been made.

It seems that the Post Office was simply running a ‘numbers game’ where people don’t matter. How hollow their current advertising slogan now sounds.

The Labour Government clearly wanted to close 2,500 across the Country and that means closing offices in Northampton despite the strong cases made to keep them open. Labour MP Sally Keeble has supported her Governments plans for the Post Office in Parliament yet campaigned against the closures in Northampton. Clearly she has misled people by making them think there was a chance to change her Government’s plans – when there was not. She needs to explain her position.

Local Lib Dem Councillors will continue to do all we can to fight these closure plans.