The council that awarded a serial domestic abuser ‘Male Role Model of the Year’ is undertaking a review into their involvement with him, following NN Journal’s investigation.
Chief executive of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) Martin Henry has called our investigation into Quinton Green ‘ highly concerning’ and claims the council was not aware of ‘the new allegations’.
We revealed on Wednesday that knife crime campaigner Quinton Green, has an extremely violent past, with a catalogue of abuse perpetrated against several different women. He has also threatened women he has worked with when they have mentioned his domestic abuse past.
Green told NN Journal and said in a (now deleted) social media post that he was deeply ashamed of his past, although once again did not spell out that his previous convictions relate to domestic abuse. Many people have offered him support including the Mayor of Wellingborough Sylvia Erskine and WNC councillor Jon East.
WNC says it is now in close contact with Northamptonshire Police which has set up an incident number for any potential victims to come forward.
Chief executive Martin Henry said in a statement:
“Our council is unequivocal in its condemnation of all forms of violence, abuse, harassment and coercive behaviour. Violence against women and girls, domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, so-called honour-based abuse and all forms of gender-based and any other violence have no place in our communities and should not be tolerated.
“The new allegations set out in the press are highly concerning and the council was not aware of them until they were published this week. The individual and their organisations have, in the past, been involved in a number of events and activities organised by the council however no further activities are currently planned.
“Based on our current information, at no time during these activities was the individual unsupervised with children and young people. Most of the community and civic events they attended, including the Male Role Model Awards, were open to all members of the public. The individual received the West Northants Male Role Model Award in 2024 from a community judging panel, which includes community and Council representatives, having been nominated by members of the public.
“As soon as these allegations were brought to our attention we embarked on a review of the Council’s involvement with the individual and his connected organisations, which is ongoing.“We encourage anyone who is experiencing abuse, or anyone who is worried about a friend, family member, neighbour or colleague, to seek support and report concerns. In an emergency, always contact the police. For non-emergency situations, a range of confidential support services are available locally and nationally to provide advice and assistance.
“We are in close contact with colleagues at Northamptonshire Police who have advised that anyone who believes they may have been affected by these allegations or has information can contact them on 101, quoting Incident 123 of 18 August. Alternatively they can make anonymous reports to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Following our investigation the Northants Women’s Empowerment Group wrote to the WNC’s leader Mark Arnull and chief executive and Northants chief constable Ivan Balhatchet asking a series of questions concerning what the organisations may have known about his past and what checks had been done regarding safeguarding.
They requested the council:
Confirms immediately whether all engagement with Mr Green and his organisations has been paused;
Appoints a suitably independent person to review the Council’s knowledge, decisions and safeguarding processes;
Preserves all relevant records, correspondence, nomination documents and safeguarding assessments;
Engages appropriately with domestic-abuse specialists and affected women; and
Publishes the review’s findings and resulting action plan, subject to lawful confidentiality requirements.
Hannah Martin from the Northants Women’s Empowerment Group told NN Journal today that more is needed from the council.
She said:
“It is not clear that they are not going to work with him from this day forward.”
People who work with young people should disclose a DBS certificate, which is an official government document that shows a person’s criminal history. There are questions around which organisations that worked with Green had asked for a DBS certificate.
The disclosure barring service, which carries out the checks is run by the government, with local police forces getting involved when an enhanced DBS check is requested by an organisation. The police force can then share with the disclosure barring service whether it holds other information on the person. The reason for a DBS is to ensure that employers can make safe recruiting choices and it can give people who work with contractors, assurance of their criminal history.
NN Journal has asked Northants Police how many requests it had regarding Green for an enhanced DBS check and await a response.
We also asked WNC on Wednesday whether it had obtained a DBS check for Quinton Green for any projects it had worked with him on and we have been told to submit a freedom of information request because the information is not held in a central location.
Besides winning the male role model award, Green has attended many council events and has performed poetry in the council chamber on a few occasions.
He has been involved this summer with sports events part funded by the council and was also the first person interviewed in a new podcast series run by the WNC youth council, which is made up of young people aged 11-18. He also attended the outgoing chair of the council’s garden party.
Former WNC councillor James Hill, who has worked with Quinton Green says the council needs an internal review of their internal processes, regarding the people it works with.
He said:
“I have worked with Quinton Green for a number of years in our shared efforts to tackle knife crime in Northampton. He has worked tirelessly over that time to address this huge and deeply damaging issue in our town, and I have been a consistent supporter and advocate of the positive work he has done in that space.
“While I was aware that Quinton had a past, I was not aware of the full extent or nature of the matters now detailed in the NN Journal article until it was published. In light of these horrific allegations, and the sheer number of convictions of which I was previously unaware, I can no longer work with him or offer any support.
“I have always taken a clear and consistent stance on violence against women. Although I am a firm believer in the possibility of rehabilitation, the number of incidents and the violent nature of them completely changes the situation. I am also deeply concerned by the more recent allegations, which must be fully and properly investigated.
“West Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire Police must now carefully review their own internal processes regarding those who work with or for them. Above all, the priority must be the victims. Their needs, safety and wellbeing should be the most important consideration in everything that follows.”
If you are suffering from domestic abuse there are a number of local charities in the county you can contact, such as Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service and Eve
Investigations like this one take lots of time and are made possible by the paying subscribers who fund NN Journal. We do not have adverts, so we can remain fully independent and we do not receive any grant funding. If you can support our journalism and future investigations please subscribe
Other news
Plans have been approved for an extension to a warehouse facility owned by a long-standing Thrapston business, despite concerns that the area is being overrun by an “unstoppable tsunami of warehouse developments”.
Saica Pack Thrapston, which produces corrugated packaging from its current warehouse on the Haldens Parkway Industrial estate, asked North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) for permission to erect a large storage
warehouse next to its existing building so it can consolidate its operations in one place.
Planning papers state that this would prevent the need for trips between the application site and the business’ transit storage sites, which are currently based in Corby and Sywell, and means that all finished goods could be stored on the larger site.
The proposed building would provide an additional 14,000sqm of storage space and would be physically linked to the existing warehouse via an underground tunnel to transport goods across.
However, concerns were raised around potential harm the extension could cause to the surrounding area, with 40 objections from members of the public submitted.
A spokesperson for Staunch, a campaign group looking to protect the landscape adjacent to Titchmarsh and Thrapston from inappropriate industrial development, argued that the Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) submitted by the council was incorrect and rebutted ecological claims in the report, asking councillors to defer the application.
“Rushing to meet an administrative deadline does not exempt you from environmental law,” they said, “It guarantees an immediate and robust challenge from Staunch via another judicial review in the High Court.”
Thrapston councillor Joseph Garner also raised concerns about the cumulative impact of the facility with other similar nearby approvals creating “an unstoppable tsunami of warehouse developments” which could engulf Thrapston and Titchmarsh.
Allan Foakes, regional director at Saica Pack, told the planning committee that the company began its operations in Thrapston in 1996 and that their “absolute desire” is to remain and grow in the area.
He said bringing the warehouse “under one roof” would eliminate the need for their external sites, significantly reduce external vehicle movements, and free them of logistical inefficiencies with their current supply chain.
He added:
“Over the past 22 years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside multiple generations of local families. The proposal before you might well ensure you can continue to provide skilled labour employment for the community for many years to come.”
The proposals were approved by the committee in line with planning officers’ recommendations, subject to conditions.
By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
A fundraiser for the talented basketball playing daughter of Kim Thompson has raised more than £4,500.
Athena Thompson, is part of the Great Britain under 18s squad and is on a college basketball scholarship in America.
Her mother, who was a basketball coach, was murdered by her husband last August and he was sentenced after a trial earlier this year.
Athena needs the financial support to continue her career as a rising sports star and Northampton Basketball Club is running a Go Fund me Page, where people can donate.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has said it must undertake further engagement work to find a new transport provider to fill gaps in rural areas which were hit by the closure of a community bus company.
The Ability Bus service ceased operations in April 2026 in light of funding challenges, leaving many elderly and vulnerable residents who relied on it for public transport with few other travel options.
Shortly after, the council, which said it was only given 37 days’ notice of the service closure, announced a new £172,000 funding pot for community transport grants. It said at the time that ‘confidence was growing’ that a new provider could be found to cover the areas affected by Ability’s closure and that there had been “significant interest” from potential providers.
However, in the five months following the closure announcement, no alternative service for the area has come forward.
In an open letter addressed to council bosses last week, South Northants MP Sarah Bool claimed her office had spoken with providers who had received no indication of whether they had been successful in the recent round of bids (which closed on April 24, 2026), placing them in an “impossible position”.
WNC told the LDRS that it recognised the frustration and uncertainty caused by the time this process has taken, but said that all applicants were contacted and advised whether they were successful. It explained that it had not yet received an appropriate replacement service proposal and highlighted the importance of using the grant funding “where it can achieve the greatest benefit for residents”.
In the letter, Ms Bool said:
“Multiple community transport providers will have to cease operations in the coming months if West Northamptonshire Council does not announce details of any grants and provide them with certainty.
“Others have explained that they are already reducing services, operating waiting lists or relying on reserves which cannot be sustained indefinitely.
“These organisations provide an essential public service. They cannot responsibly and in good faith continue making those commitments without knowing whether they will have the resources to operate.”
She urged the council to notify all applicants on the outcomes of the grant, warning that failure to do so could risk significant reduction in community transport provision, as well as serious consequences for rural isolation and access to healthcare for vulnerable residents.
In response to her concerns, WNC has clarified that it launched its Community Transport Grant Programme in March as a “rapid response” to the Ability closure and anticipated that multiple organisations, in partnership, might come forward to deliver services capable of replacing a ‘substantial’ proportion of the former provision.
According to Northamptonshire ACRE’s 2026 Community Transport Directory, Ability provided a community bus scheme across a wide range of villages covering the breadth of West Northamptonshire, around the larger towns of Brackley, Towcester, Daventry and Northampton.
However, WNC has said this bid did not materialise and that no provider had presented a “fully developed and financially robust” proposal capable of replacing services on the same scale.
It added that a funding grants panel did agree to award £72,000 to voluntary car schemes and other community transport organisations already providing services, but that £101,000 was retained alongside the former Ability minibuses to award to an appropriate replacement service.
In comparison, the Ability Bus service was awarded £477k in funding across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, due to the council allocating a large grant from central government via the Rural England Prosperity Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Local community transport provider CommMiniBus has told the LDRS that it undertook an extensive planning exercise and submitted its own proposal for a rural bus network after the closure of Ability.
Spokesperson Chris Wong said they hoped the grant would be able to part-fund a basic rural bus network serving as many affected communities as possible, “providing a basic but dependable level of service”. However, he said they were told that the council was not able to decide which replacement proposals should be supported and therefore did not allocate funding.
Concerns were raised about the effect that the delayed replacement service decision will have on organisations who are waiting on the outcome – and the impact it will have on recruiting staff, securing vehicles, and sustaining current transport routes for local communities.
Mr Wong has encouraged the council to progress funding for established services independently of decisions on replacement bus services.
West Northants Council concluded that it would not be appropriate to allocate all available funding “without a clearer understanding of present and future demand”. Parish councils previously served by Ability CIC are currently being surveyed to assess transport requirements before further engagement takes place with community transport providers.
However, no indication has been given on when this work might be completed – with WNC stating that it would not be serving communities well by “rushing funding and assets to providers before they are in a position to deliver a sustainable service”.
A council spokesperson added:
“All applicants were contacted directly in July and advised whether they were successful or not in securing a grant and of the current position. They were also invited to participate in the forthcoming engagement exercise. The overwhelming majority confirmed that they wished to remain involved in shaping future provision.
“Whilst the council acknowledges the concerns that have been raised by some providers regarding financial sustainability, it is important to recognise that these challenges are not unique to community transport organisations and reflect wider pressures across the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
“The council remains committed to supporting community transport wherever possible and to ensuring that available funding is used effectively, transparently and in a manner that best meets the needs of local communities.
“It is precisely because of the importance of these services that we have taken the decision to gather further evidence before allocating the remaining funding, rather than risk investing significant public funds in arrangements that may not be sustainable or capable of meeting demand.”
By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Plans for a six-bed HMO in Northampton have been refused by the council, after receiving more than 80 letters of objection from local residents.
Plans were submitted to add a two-storey side extension and a single-storey rear extension to convert a two-storey home on 29 Broadway into a house in multiple occupancy (HMO).
Northampton is covered by an Article 4 direction, which means that landlords must get approved planning permission to convert residential dwellings, despite current permitted development rights which allow small HMOs up to six people without an application.
According to blueprints, the home would’ve provided three en-suite bedrooms and a kitchen space downstairs, and a further three en-suite rooms on the first floor.
The proposals came up against 85 objections from neighbours and nearby residents, two of whom spoke against the change of use at West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) planning meeting on Thursday, August 20.
Ruby, a local resident, told the committee that her strongest concern was the removal of an existing off-road parking space and garage next to the home to make way for the extension, and the impact extra cars would have on already constrained on-street parking.
Peter White, a neighbour of the proposed HMO, expanded on traffic concerns, saying the existing parking on both sides of the road makes it “effectively a single-track road, meaning there are frequent traffic jams of cars blocking the road” which becomes worse when buses use the route.
The applicant, Mr E Galvamauskas, did not speak at the meeting however a planning statement previously submitted to the council claimed that the conversion would “not result in significant harm to neighbouring living conditions”.
Ward councillors Bob Purser and Zoe Smith, who called the application into the committee hearing, said the plans would involve building a significant extension and result in an “excessive occupation” of the property, which they asserted would change the character of the home and impact on neighbours.
The council’s planning officer had recommended the application for approval, stating the development is considered to provide a sufficient standard of residential amenity, protect neighbour amenity, and not have an unacceptable impact on highway safety.
However, the committee voted to refuse the application, based on the overdevelopment of the plot, the constraints with on-street parking, and a lack of amenity.
By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Our coverage next week may be sporadic due to holidays, but normal service will resume in September.