Friday brief: council accused of ‘fanning the flames of racism’ with asylum hotel action
Plus a news round up including a councillor who decided to take a bath during an online council briefing
The leadership of West Northamptonshire Council has been accused of ‘fanning the flames of racism’ by the chief executive of the county’s race equality council.
The council issued planning contravention notices at the start of September to the hotels in Crick, Deanshanger and Flore and confirmed at a meeting last night that it has now received all of their replies.
Protest groups stood outside the full council meeting on the steps of the Guildhall in support of asylum seekers, ahead of a motion that demanded continued action on the council’s position regarding the ongoing use of hotels.
Anjona Roy, who is also secretary of the Northampton & District Trades Union Council, criticised the authority for “fanning the flames of racism” instead of looking at how they could support the most vulnerable in society.
She said:
“I think the whole of the UK at the moment is in a toxic melting pot of racism, and I expect more from the leaders of my community than adding to it.
“I’ve met some of the people who’ve been [living in asylum hotels] that have just been through some of the most horrific and traumatic experiences, only to come to this country and have over 100 people stood outside literally baying for blood.
“To have leaders not looking out for the interests of the most vulnerable in our communities makes me extremely sad. I want [councillors] to think before they speak and I want them to value all the people in West Northants as human beings.”
Speaking in the council chamber, WNC’s Reform UK Leader Mark Arnull said that the hotels were “inappropriate” for the communities they are placed in.
He said:
“We will examine these properly, we will look at these responses and we will find out our next steps. I promise that I will be transparent with where we are.”
Deputy leader James Petter added:
“Hotels in our area have been taken out of use without local consultation- that puts direct pressure on housing, schools, GP surgeries, community cohesion.
“The council has duly upheld its planning law. If hotels have been used in ways that breach planning laws, then enforcement is the right and proper course.”
Two amendments from the Labour and Lib Dem groups fell, with the West Northants Conservative Leader Daniel Lister, who proposed the original motion, stating that it “seemed to change the motion from planning law to virtue signalling”.
Speaking on the issue later, Labour Cllr Enam Haque said:
“We must also be clear that the issue is not asylum seekers themselves, it’s the system. Our role as councillors is not to inflame division, but to show leadership.”
Cllr Jonathan Harris, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, asked where refugees and asylum seekers would go if hotels were closed and said they needed to “join up the dots”.
However, a further amendment tabled by Cllr Ian McCord passed, which added that the previous Tory administration did not enact any of the actions they were asking from Reform, which he branded “hypocrisy”.
Cllr Lister said:
“We have a long and well-publicised stance on this, declaring that the levels of use were not acceptable. We actually mean what we say, we want to back our officers, demand real consultation and put communities first, not party politics.”
WNC first announced its legal and planning action on the asylum hotels in light of Epping Forest District Council’s court case, which will conclude with a full injunction hearing in October.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
News in brief
A BBC investigation has revealed that a tech investor has been put forward by Reform’s Doge department to look into savings at West Northamptonshire Council.
Former journalist and serial business starter Harriet Green, 35, has been put forward by the national party to come in and examine how the authority can cut back costs.
There has been widespread concern about the Doge initiative - is a copycat of Elon Musk’s team which went into the US administration after Trump’s election - and whether or not it is legally sound. There are concerns about giving data to people who are not council employees.
The authority’s senior officer team has said any savings found must first go confidentially to the chief executive and not be used by the national party. Legal agreements are being drawn up.
Green, who has links to think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, founded a business at the start of this year called Basis Capital, which touts itself as “early stage investor reimagining what governments can no longer deliver”. It proposes improving public services with private sector innovation.
It is unclear what successes Green has had with her earlier businesses, which include a small media consultancy.
The newly contracted Healthwatch North Northants has issued its first report and found booking NHS appointments are the ‘most pressing concern’.
Support Northants took over the contract this spring and Claire Neilson was appointed as manager in July.
In the first quarter the health watchdog assessed just under 90 user experiences and found that 70 per cent of feedback was negative. Quality of treatment and uncompassionate care was also highlighted.
The report will be discussed at North Northamptonshire Council’s health and wellbeing board on Tuesday at 2pm.
West Northamptonshire Council’s leader has said that council tax is ‘highly likely’ to go up next year due to rising pressures on council services.
The authority has recently forecast a huge £50m gap for next year’s finances, which will equate to around 10 per cent of its overall budget.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting last week, finance member Cllr John Slope warned that some choices the authority needs to make to balance the books may not be ‘easy’ or ‘popular’.
West Northants Reform UK Leader, Mark Arnull, told NLive Radio on its weekly politics show that the authority has “a very big financial challenge ahead of us in closing a budget gap that’s huge”.
He explained that pressures in children’s and adult social care, which account for around two-thirds of the budget, were statutory services which means that when there is an overspend due to rising demand the council “don’t have a choice but to do that”.
Cllr Arnull continued:
“It’s always been a mission of mine, from prior to the election and now in office, to make sure this is transparent and the council’s not perceived negatively for what it has to do.
“It is important that we raise this at a national level and over years to come our party will be championing in the way Government funding is done and hopefully argues for change.
“The fact that we’re able to put [budget pressures] out confidently should not put the public in fear that services are going to get cut just because there’s a challenge.
“What it means is we have a look at everything again- we’ve got a brand new team of people on the Cabinet from different areas and backgrounds, all with a great deal of skill. I’m confident we can close that gap.”
Last year, the previous Conservative administration announced that it had been able to eliminate a £53m funding shortfall for the 2025/26 budget. The process included multiple rounds of review sessions from senior leadership, changes to fees and charges, £24m of service efficiency proposals, and a council tax increase of 4.99 per cent.
When asked about what will happen with council tax next year, the Leader said that if it goes behind the curve of inflation and there’s a funding gap going into 2026/27 it could lead the authority into “dangerous territory”.
“We call that a section 114 in local government,” he continued, “That means essentially, commissioners come in to run the administration for you- and we’ve been there before.
“It’s not in our interest to send this authority anywhere near that, but difficult choices have to be made and one thing I promised the electorate when I took office and was elected leader is that I’d be straight with people and I will tell you the truth.”
When pushed on whether WNC was likely to raise council tax next year, Cllr Arnull said: “It’s highly likely, we’re seeing patterns emerging all over the country, but again transparency is key.”
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Police are appealing for information after a member of the public reported seeing a woman being assaulted and pushed into a car in Kettering.
The incident is reported to have happened last night on Deeble Road between 5.30pm and 6pm at the entrance of The Church of Christ the King. The woman was reportedly manhandled into a dark car. Police say they would like to speak to anyone who has information about her identity and are appealing for CCTV footage from homes in Deeble Road or dashcam.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and quote reference 597 of 26/09/25
There was some light relief in the West Northants Council chamber last night as Independent Ian McCord revealed that cabinet member James Petter had made a zoom faux pas this week.
NN Journal understands that during an online council briefing on Tuesday evening, Reform UK’s Cllr Petter took his camera into the bath and revealed more than he had been intending to.
At the council meeting Cllr McCord first of all referred to Cllr Petter as Cllr Pecker and said:
“I saw his use of the camera the other night at our treasury management training when he decided he was going to take a bath and once seen certain things cannot be unseen.”
Cllr Petter did not respond to Cllr McCord’s speech. WNC has been contacted for comment.
