Friday brief: Council accused of 'balancing books on backs of small businesses'
A Northampton MP has accused the West unitary of ‘balancing the books on the backs of small business’ after the authority has introduced new parking charges dispute public anger.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) voted through changes to its parking fees last night in its 2026/27 budget, despite a petition to stop the proposals that gathered more than 1,400 signatures.
The council had already announced that it would be reversing plans put forward in the draft budget to start charging users of car parks in Brackley, Towcester and Daventry, but no such relief was given to the scrapping of two hours of free parking in Northampton at weekends and other fee uplifts. All day parking in the town will increase by £2.40 to £11.20.
Appealing to the Reform UK administration to rethink the higher charges at the start of the full council meeting, Labour’s Northampton South MP Mike Reader said:
“The biggest challenge that we face, the biggest challenge that residents talk to you about, is parking. Countless businesses signed my open letter calling on you to change your decision, and 1,400 people signed the public petition.
“Instead, Reform has chosen to balance the books of this council on the backs of small businesses in our town. If your cabinet needs to raise income, you should be honest about what you’re doing.
“You came into politics saying you would do things differently and tonight is your chance to prove it. You must vote in the interest of your constituents and vote against this budget.”
Another point of contention was the removal of free parking for blue badge holders in council car parks, with a note in the budget saying that they will have to pay the same rates as all other users from the new financial year.
Dennis Meredith, a blue badge holder and former WNC Lib Dem councillor, said he was “horrified” that the authority was going to start charging disabled people for using council car parks.
“I have spoken to lots of disabled people and they told me they will not come to town,” the meeting heard.
“Disabled people are mostly people on benefits, they can’t really afford to pay and it does help if they’re coming to town to get near a shop and park in a car park.
“As a disabled man, I think it’s discrimination from this administration.”
Speaking during the budget debate, Conservative councillor Pinder Chauhan added: “25 out of the 42 elected [Reform councillors] represent Northampton. With such a large presence, you would expect Northampton to be the front and centre of their priorities, yet this budget shows the opposite.
“You still have not prioritised the town, or considered the real-world impact your budget will have on local people. Perhaps you should pause and listen to the retailers, the shop owners, and the businesses in our town centre.
“They are telling you plainly that these parking charges will damage trade and reduce footfall.”
Responding to the concerns, finance member Cllr John Slope said that the council had listened to residents during the public consultation, with 1,700 responses on parking alone, by removing the proposed costs for market towns. He explained that Northampton town centre car parks were in a “different position” to the market towns.
“They are well-established, well-used facilities with significant infrastructure costs attached,” he said, “Weekend usage is real and the cost of maintaining and operating those facilities does not stop on a Friday afternoon.
“It’s right that weekend users contribute, just as weekday users do.”
Cllr James Petter, cabinet member for local economy, culture and leisure, said:
“Our principle is simple, if you use a service you contribute to its cost. For years, this issue was avoided, not because it was complex, but because it was uncomfortable to talk about.
“Parking charges do not kill a town centre. Town centres decline when there is no reason to visit, when investment stalls, and when leadership lacks vision. Our previous administration did this and a lot more.
“These charges are not a punishment; they are a result of confronting reality.”
Cllr Slope added that WNC was not “inflexible” and that where there was specific evidence for events that justify temporary adjustments, they would be looked at.
Julie Teckman, owner of Vintage Guru in St Giles’ Street, said the administration had “just ignored” Northampton.
“I never expected for one moment that they would actually change their minds, they knew what they were going to do.
“If you want to increase parking charges, make it a town that people want to come and visit. We’re working our damnedest to make it a better place and change people’s perception of Northampton.”
Former Conservative councillor James Hill, who launched the public petition against the town centre parking charges alongside Northampton town councillor Taylor Cowley-Coulton, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, after the meeting:
“We are both disappointed that our concerns have been ignored by Reform, despite the huge numbers of signatures and concerns from local businesses.
“Northampton is paying the price.”
Mr Cowley-Coulton said:
“Reckless Reform have voted to mug motorists, scrap businesses in the town centre, and squeeze the disabled further. It’s not reform – it’s a ruthless revenue raid.
“I hope that they will change course and apologise to our residents for this town-killing policy.”
The new parking charges are set to be introduced in April, and will come into place alongside a 4.95 per cent increase in council tax for all West Northants residents.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Other news this week
Former Northants chief constable Nick Adderley had a scheduled court appearance adjourned last week on medical grounds.
Adderley, who is charged with fraud, misconduct in public office and making a false witness statement, was due to appear at Southwark Crown Court last Friday (February 20) for a plea hearing.
However an application for an adjournment by Adderley’s lawyer due to his ‘medical state’ was agreed by Judge Baumgartner and the hearing has been moved to May 20.
Adderley has been charged with offences allegedly committed while he was the serving Northants Police Chief. He was removed from his job in 2024 after a misconduct hearing which found he had lied on his CV and also falsely represented his naval service, incorrectly claiming he had served in the Falklands conflict in the early 1980s.
A Northants residential home for adults with complex needs, which is under investigation by the Charities Commission, was mentioned in parliament this week, with the Lib Dem leader accusing one of the home’s trustees of ‘embezzling £1m’.
As NN Journal reported last month, William Blake House in Blakesley, near Towcester, owes £1.6m in unpaid HMRC bills and is facing a wind up petition.
Ed Davey MP brought up the issue during Prime Ministers Questions on Monday and
He said:
“It’s been revealed that a trustee of William Blake House, a care home for adults with profound disabilities, embezzled £1m. There are very few homes in the country that offer this sort of care and now it faces closure.
“As a father of a disabled son myself, can I tell the prime minister that this situation is one of my worst nightmares, and it’s one of the worst nightmares of many parents with disabled adult children.”
He asked the prime minister to meet with families who want to take over the running of the home to secure its future for their loved ones.
Due to parliamentary privilege MPs can make claims without fear of being used for defamation and what is said in parliament can be reported by the media.
Bushra Hamid, one of three trustees, was paid hundreds of thousands for consultancy services.
The families of people living at the home commissioned a forensic accountant to look at the finances of the charity after becoming aware of the unpaid tax bill.
When NN Journal spoke to Mr Hamid recently he said he did not want to speak about the payments he received from William Blake House due to the Charity Commission’s investigation.
Police are appealing for two people who they have been searching for in connection with the murder of Mason Miller in Northampton earlier this month to come forward.
Miller, 20, died after a violent incident at a Skatepark in the Briar’s Hill area of the town on February 18. Another unnamed teenager, 17, suffered life changing injuries.
A number of people - including two 14 year olds and a 15 year old - have been arrested in connection with the incident and this afternoon Northants Police det supt Johnny Campbell issued a video plea for two people who he said ‘know who they are’ to come forward. Appealing to them as well as their friends and family, he said:
“Primarily we need to check they are safe and well, but equally we need to speak to them as they may have the missing piece of the jigsaw that we need to establish why what happened.”
On Wednesday the force released CCTV footage of two people they wanted to speak to dressed in dark clothing and hoods and riding electric bikes close to the scene on the day of the murder.
They would also like anyone driving in the Kings Heath, Duston, Upton and Briar Hill areas of Northampton, between 2pm and 4pm and who has dash cam footage to share it with them.
Miller was made the subject of a slavery and trafficking risk order last year as police believed he was exploiting young people in Northampton.
Information can also be submitted online at www.northants.police.uk/RO
Land next to the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton will be developed into a new warehousing zone, under football club plans approved by the council this week.
Northampton Town FC submitted plans to West Northants Council (WNC) last year to convert a disused former running track to the east of the stadium into a 19-acre warehouse development.
A final decision on the scheme was made at WNC’s strategic planning committee meeting on Wednesday, after planning officers recommended that members approve the project.
In total, 112 letters of support were submitted by members of the public, compared to 20 people who came forward with objections.
Speaking against the plans at the meeting, John Morgan, from the Northampton Town Football Club Supporters Trust, said that planning permission being accepted would be “great news for the owners”, but that they had failed to explain how it would actually benefit the club and its supporters.
He added:
“Sixfields stadium was rightly called a community stadium, but can no longer be considered one. The community facilities behind the East stand, by past and present owners, were deliberately allowed to lapse into disuse.
“The running track lease land could and should be used for a much better purpose, and one for which the community of Northampton benefits.”
The heights of the seven proposed warehouses range from 10m to 15m, and site plans indicate that the largest unit would back onto the edge of the East Stand at Sixfields.
Northampton Town FC chairman, Kelvin Thomas, said that the loss of the north gravel car park would not impact the number of spaces supporters have access to, due to agreements in place with the council to use the Saints car park and the Claret car park.
He added that existing problems with illegal parking in nearby residential areas were not a capacity issue, but instead a “considerate parking issue” with some people not wanting to use the designated sites which have parking charges.
The plans were ultimately approved by the planning committee, with seven members voting in favour of the development and three against.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Northamptonshire’s devolution deal looks to be going nowhere, as the government has greyed out the county in newly released plans for larger strategic planning areas.
A recent paper published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has seemingly cemented Northamptonshire as a no-man’s land. It has suggested that only the four authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) should be linked together in a spatial development strategy (SDS), which creates a wider geography for strategic planning for the next 20 years. The neighbouring councils had not wanted to enter into a deal with Northants.
While the SDS is still open to public consultation, and does not solidify any specific area or preclude Northamptonshire from a deal, it is the government’s belief that strategic planning should align with devolution areas and leaves Northants on the back foot again for any future agreement.
Leader of North Northamptonshire Council, Martin Griffiths, says his authority has presented ‘clear, compelling evidence’ about how a wider strategic footprint would benefit the area:
He said: “It is increasingly difficult to understand why the government continues to overlook this, particularly when the collective strength of our region is so clearly recognised by those who invest, operate, and create jobs here including the South Midlands Business Board.
“We will of course consider the details of the government’s announcement; however our focus remains firmly on working with our local authority partners across the South Midlands and with the business community to secure the long‑term investment and powers our residents deserve.
“We will continue to present the strongest possible case, and in the coming weeks we will progress our expression of interest so that Northamptonshire’s voice — and its potential — cannot be ignored.”
Mark Arnull, leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said:
“I am deeply disappointed by the government’s proposed arrangements for Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) in our region which leaves Northamptonshire very much in the cold and devalues the scale and opportunity for all of the businesses and residents across the area.
“Over many years we have seen significant government spend going into the big combined authorities. Our region has a huge part to play in the future of the UK’s prosperity but by creating small sub regions yet again the government will under-invest and we will be left short. A wider geography puts us in the top seven in terms of scale and with a combined GVA (Gross Value Added) of nearly £60bn have incredible potential to drive growth and attract investment to our area.
“The leader of NNC and I recently met Miatta Fahnbulleh, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Devolution in advance of the government publishing its SDS consultation. Once again, we put forward the strong and compelling case for a strategic authority covering Northamptonshire and wider South Midlands region and the significant benefits this would bring to residents and businesses across the whole area.
“We have estimated that our region has already lost out on around £300million of investment by not having a devolution deal in place and this latest government consultation still does nothing to address this.”
The government has, at the same time, announced an intention to progress a new wave of Foundation Strategic Authorities (FSAs) in areas currently lacking devolution. This would allow authorities to submit bids with their neighbours to access some benefits of devolution, such as devolved powers over transport, infrastructure, economic development and regeneration, without becoming a mayoral area.
WNC has said it will consider the government’s proposals around FSAs, but it feels that the option “falls far short of what our businesses and residents deserve”.
By Nadia Lincoln
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Wellingborough residents will stage a protest tomorrow after a well used Wellingborough car park is set to be sold off after a council decision earlier this month.
The Reform UK administration at NNC ignored calls to keep the car park in Jacksons Lane and instead declared it surplus. Plans to develop the site have proved controversial for many years.
The protest starts at 1pm and on Wednesday, March 3, the town council will hold an emergency meeting to discuss a motion that the sale of the asset is at odds with plans to regenerate the town centre. The town council also wants the unitary council to hold a month long public consultation.
A body has been found in the River Nene following a specialist search operation.
Police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the Northampton Marina, off Victoria Promenade, shortly after 7.30pm last Friday, following reports of a man seen struggling in the water.
After extensive searches of the river have continued to take place involving specialist teams from Northamptonshire Police an underwater search team using specialist underwater thermal imaging equipment sadly found the body of a man on Tuesday.
The man has not been named, however his family have been informed.
NN Journal’s Sarah Ward was invited to a Private Eye lunch this week. Northants politics and its personalities have made several appearances in the magazine’s famous Rotten Boroughs column in recent months and editor Ian Hislop said the column is one of the long standing magazine’s most popular.