Friday brief: Council having financial issues with two major projects built by same contractor
Plus other news from across Northants
West Northamptonshire Council is having financial issues with two major projects carried out by the same building contractor.
The authority has been in a legal dispute with Stepnells Ltd over costs incurred at the significantly over budget Market Square and it has emerged this week that another major project the builder won the contract for is running over budget.
The public mortuary project, which was agreed in January last year, was originally set to cost £9.4m, but has already gone up by £1.25. Another undisclosed sum is needed.
The authority also wants to use £1m of taxpayer’s cash to settle the Market Square dispute. The Market Square should have cost just over £8m, but the budget rose to more than £12m and a legal dispute about extra costs has been ongoing since August.
Both matters are legacy issues of the former Tory administration, which was led for several years by disgraced leader Cllr Jonathan Nunn, and will be dealt with by the Reform UK cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.
The public mortuary is currently being built at the Riverside Business Park in Northampton and should open in March.
The need to reposition the main mortuary building within the site to comply with planning requirements in August 2024 resulted in a six-month delay and an increased cost of £500k.
The scope of the project also increased later that year to include the provision of a body storage and transport service for Kettering General Hospital (KGH) and Northampton General Hospital (NGH), with additional funding of £750k approved by the cabinet in November 2024.
The authority says this will improve the overall service for the deceased and their families, whilst generating valuable revenue for the mortuary service. There are also discussions with a number of other coronial areas about the potential for the Northampton County Mortuary to deliver services for them.
Between both of these changes, the cost of the mortuary has already risen by £1.25m over the last two years.
The council has said that the project has reached a “critical stage” where it is “imperative that the building works complete”. WNC has said, therefore, that additional budget should be allocated, so the council can comply with the law and make required payments, and the project can proceed to completion.
The cost of the additional financial investment is not disclosed and a private appendix is attached to the report.
The council said about the Market Square issue this week:
“Cabinet members will consider whether to enter a settlement agreement with Stepnell over the final construction costs of the scheme and whether to increase the budget by £1m of capital funding, to cover all additional costs of the project, including the negotiated and confidential settlement.
“Negotiations and mediation between the Council and Stepnell have been taking place since August and if a settlement is not reached, adjudication proceedings would continue, potentially costing more money for taxpayers.
“Cabinet members will also meet to consider lessons learned from the complex project, which during its construction faced a series of unexpected risks and delays including significant archaeological finds, collapsed Victorian sewers and having to divert more underground utilities than previously anticipated.”
NN Journal has contacted Stepnell Ltd which has said it will not be commenting on either matter.
Reporting Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter and Sarah Ward
News in brief
The Care Quality Commission is set to issue further reports about St Andrew’s Healthcare following inspections in July and August.
The charity, which is the country’s biggest healthcare provider, has been placed in special measures and the CQC stopped it from taking in new patients in July. Last month the health regulator published a report following visits in March and April. Some services were rated as inadequate with safety and quality concerns.
The CQC said the July reports are ‘going through our drafting and quality assurances processes.’
The charity, which has an annual turnover of £217m is in financial difficulties, and its deputy chief executive said this week that the future of the charity is being investigated.
It is one of Northampton’s biggest employers and cares for hundreds of patients.
It announced the sudden closure of beloved learning centre Workbridge this week, which provides learning and services for adults with complex needs. Staff have been told they are being made redundant and the service is expected to close in the coming weeks.
The head teacher of a Corby secondary school is under financial investigation with academy trust bosses saying he would have been dismissed if he had not resigned.
Simon Underwood, who has been in charge of Corby Business Academy (CBA) for several years, has been replaced by vice principal Kerry Prior.
In a letter to parents this week, the Brooke Weston Trust, which runs CBA, said:
“Earlier in the year we commissioned an independent investigation into whistleblowing allegations of professional financial misconduct against Mr Underwood.
“Due to his absence, the investigation has taken longer than usual and was only completed shortly before half term. The Department for Education has been kept informed throughout and is supportive of the actions we have taken.
“The investigation concluded that trust policy had been breached. The trust board considered the findings and were clear they would have led to his dismissal had Mr Underwood not already resigned.”
Read the Northant’s Telegraph exclusive report here.
A campaign group has been launched to try and stop a Corby incinerator going ahead. Corby and East Northants MP Lee Barron is heading up a campaign group,
Corby and surrounding villages against incinerators, CAIN, to challenge the current plans to build incinerators.
The sites include one in Shelton Road, first given the go-ahead in 2014, which is less than a kilometre from a nursery, schools and homes in Priors Hall and on the doorstep of businesses in Corby’s Steel Road area.
A petition has been launched which calls for a rethink on the development. If
ever operational the 75-metre-high chimney stacks will emit a range of heavy
metals like cadmium, mercury and lead.
The developers Encyclis has said the emissions will not have an impact on the health of communities.
The MP said:
“It is totally unacceptable that Corby is going to be the dumping ground for everyone else’s waste. We already have the scandal of toxic town
with far too many questions still left unanswered.“Now we have the prospect of an incinerator churning out emissions containing substances that in high quantities are known to have an impact on people’s
health.”
The MP has been working with community representatives including Gretton
and Weldon Parish Councils, Priors Hall Park Neighbourhood Association, Labour councillor Geri Cullen of Corby Town Council, Green Party campaigners
Lee Forster and Sian Owens and Councillor Eddie McDonald of Reform UK, who
represents Weldon, Gretton, Deene and Deenethorpe.
The petition can be signed here
Opposition leaders have criticised West Northants Council’s (WNC) Reform UK administration for failing to deliver promised tax cuts in next year’s budget.
Their response comes after the Reform UK led authority announced that all services had set targets to reduce spending, with cabinet members and senior officers so far identifying £20 million in savings out of a major £50 million shortfall for the 2026/27 financial budget which begins in April.
In a media release council leader Mark Arnull said “difficult choices would still be needed in the months ahead”.
In response to the budget update, West Northants Conservative group leader, Cllr Dan Lister, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS):
“The excuses are already rolling in from an administration that started with no ideas and still has none. Where is the promised DOGE and the massive cuts in so‑called waste that were pledged?”
Cllr Sally Keeble, leader of the Labour group, said:
“This budget will show how Reform intends to match their election rhetoric to reality.
“They promised tax cuts. They said their failed DOGE initiative would cut waste and save millions. This statement shows neither is happening.”
Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Jonathan Harris said:
“We are advocating that the council should not just be looking at efficiencies and savings – you can only squeeze the lemon so much – but also looking at progressive opportunities to raise revenue, such as visitor levies”.
“The council leader should come clean now and be honest and transparent by telling people that cutting taxes, which was their promise, is impossible without cutting services and that people should expect the full 4.99 per cent council tax increase yet again. He should also come clean that the so-called ‘DOGE’ project is a dodo.”
WNC will present its draft budget proposals for 2026/2027 at its cabinet meeting on Monday, December 22, which will then be followed by a six-week public consultation.
The feedback will then go into the final budget proposals presented to full council for final approval in February next year.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) is forecast to spend £23m on home-to-school transport services this year – including more than £50,000 on travel for one child.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, NNC said the money will be spent on getting nearly 6,000 children, of whom around a quarter have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), to school every day.
Councils must provide free school transport to all children aged between four and 16 whose nearest school is more than three miles away. NNC’s provision also covers children under eight years old, where the walking distance is more than two miles, and children up to 16 with SEND who cannot walk and are attending the nearest ‘suitable’ school named in their EHC plan.
A council budget report going to executive next week (Tuesday, November 11) acknowledged the risks around a growth in pupil numbers and the annual increase in demand for home-to-school transport, particularly for SEND transport.
According to NNC, to date in 2025/26, there are 4,412 pupils using home-to-school transport in North Northamptonshire and a further 1,567 SEND students. This has increased by around 644 students since last year, with applications still being received.
By Nadia Lincoln
Whilst I welcome the campaign to stop the incinerators, I also would like to see work ongoing on waste going into landfills and what we as communities need to manage our waste so it doesn’t go into the air, water and contaminating our soil.
Imagine that? A private contractor trying to extort free money from the public sector. Thanks Maggie.