Friday brief: ‘Death certificates’ handed out in Northampton council chamber to symbolise air pollution deaths
Friday brief: ‘Death certificates’ handed out in Northampton council chamber to symbolise air pollution deaths
Plus the annual budget meetings of our two unitary councils
There were protests once more in and outside the West Northamptonshire Council chamber yesterday as campaigners sought to draw attention to the authority’s failure to tackle the air quality in the town.
Northampton has long been one of the most polluted places in the country (according to a number of national studies) and yesterday the 1000 Voices Clean Air campaign distributed 102 fake death certificates at the full council meeting at the guildhall to symbolise the lives lost each year in the town to the effects of air pollution.
The authority launched a consultation on air quality measures earlier this week, but campaigners say this is ‘more words, no action’ and have accused the council of ‘publishing an inadequate draft action plan in a last-ditch attempt to save themselves from Defra [Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs] sanctions’.
Defra has sent legal notices to the local authority after it failed to issue an action plan on clean air, and gave a deadline of the end of this month to submit the plan.
Dave Pearson from Clean Air Northamptonshire spoke at the meeting and said:
“Successive councils have dragged their feet for two decades on Northampton’s toxic air. The only tangible mitigation this far being a bus lane on the Weedon Road. There was almost a cycle lane on the Billing Road but you chickened out at the slightest opposition. Despite having seven air quality management areas this council has no action plans to tackle them, nor indeed an air quality officer to devise those plans, year after year.
“It wasn’t until Defra began a disciplinary process on 31 August last year that things started to happen. An air quality officer was finally appointed, but only part time. Defra sent a letter in October forewarning the council about its lack of an air quality action plan; the cabinet said nothing. Defra sent a final warning letter in December; the councillors were not informed.
“The final step in the process is a ministerial letter with a section 85 direction, due next week. Does this council think so little of its citizens that protecting their lives is only acted upon when faced by legal sanction from central government?
“Northampton’s toxic air scandal is a litany of procrastination, obfuscation, concealment, denial and delay. The next week brings uncertainty and certainty. It remains to be seen whether this reluctant attempt to finally produce an action plan is sufficient to avert ministerial action.”
During the budget debate Labour’s Keith Holland-Delamare also drew attention to the lack of action by the Conservative-run authority.
“If we do not act on air quality we are sleepwalking into a situation where we will have measures imposed on us by central government. It is a choice between us making decisions or continually delaying and having central government make them for us. We have the budgets and allocations to put in innovative and sensible solutions. We really do need to make sure we address the health issues in our communities [caused by] the lack of clean air.
Budget report
Both West and Northamptonshire unitary councils set their budgets for the coming financial year yesterday.
The big change for the West is that following a huge overspend by the children’s trust this current year (largely due to private care costs outside of the trust’s control) the authority will increase its budget for the service next year by a huge 22 per cent and there will also be a 9.5 per cent increase in the adult social care budget. In part these will have to be funded by reductions in other departments.
The budget for council services (excluding school budgets) will be £414.5m and the authority is imposing a 4.99 per cent rise on council tax bills.
Labour’s Keith Holland-Delamare took aim at the use of contingency budgets (reserves) to fill the current financial gap this year - the budget is currently predicting a £4m overspend, but would have been much higher if contingencies were not used.
He said:
“This is not a sustainable fiscal policy and it has to stop. We are filling in ever widening gaps in service.
“This budget has a complete lack of imagination. It feels that we are on autopilot.”
The council voted against all five of Labour’s budget amendments - which included a scheme to build modular homes. Deputy council leader Adam Brown referred to the scheme as a ‘red herring’ because he had checked and it did not meet Homes England funding criteria.
The Liberal Democrat group amendments which concerned introducing a two year pilot scheme for school counsellors and considering building new film studios were also voted down. As was a budget amendment proposal from a group of Independent councillors to take £2m from reserves and put them into road improvements.
In the North the Conservative-run council agreed the new budget of £388.4m. Executive member Cllr Gill Mercer commended the officers on putting together a budget which was coping with pressures ‘very admirably’.
Labour’s budget amendment proposals to include an event for those supporting the community in the voluntary sector, plus more SEND support were voted down. The executive member for finance Lloyd Bunday dismissed the Labour suggestions as ‘not related to the budget’, with Labour’s Cllr Anne Lee saying his response was typical of an ‘arrogance’ that was no longer appropriate.
The Kettering Green Alliance group leader Cllr Emily Fedorowycz said the authority needed to declare it needed help now with the costs of children’s services. She also criticised the lack of scrutiny being given to the home to school transport service.
Executive member Cllr Helen Howell accused the opposition of putting together their budget amendments together ‘on the back of a cigarette’ packet and said they were ‘outrageous’. She said ‘consultation is key’ and there has been none from any of the opposition. She also dismissed the £15,000 proposal for a voluntary sector event as ‘providing a jolly’.
News in brief:
The time limit for landowner the Duke of Buccleuch to appeal the planning inspectors refusal to build warehouses on a beloved green space has now passed.
Last month, after an eight-day hearing, the planning inspector decided not to allow the Duke’s company to build the warehouses on Weekley Hall Wood and Meadow.
The company had until this week to appeal the decision, but did not do so.
Cllr Dez Dell, who has been part of the campaign since 2020, said:
“Myself and the Save Weekley Hall Wood team are so relieved to have reached this day, as we have waited with baited breath for these six weeks to be over.
“We were elated at the Inspector’s decision but we always had this niggle that Buccleuch could appeal it.
“At the same time, we are aware that Buccleuch Property could put in another planning application for the area, so the whole process could start again.”
Campaigner Martin Toms said:
“We really hope we can start to have friendly conversations and engage positively with Buccleuch Estates about what’s best for the future of the area.“In the meantime, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us over the past four years, whether they’ve attended a fundraising event, volunteered, signed our petition or donated to our campaign.
“Every single one of you has done an amazing thing in helping to save this beautiful countryside for future generations.”
Plans have been submitted to redevelop a bank on a Northants high street into flats.
The former NatWest bank in Rushden High Street, which served the community for more than a century, has now sat vacant for almost two years.
Developer 1836 Ltd has applied to North Northamptonshire Council to repurpose the old building, on 43 High Street, to encompass seven flats. The three-storey property would comprise two two-bedroom units and five one-bed apartments.
The application site is located within the Rushden Conservation Area, however the former bank is not a listed building. The ground floor entrance way facing the High Street, which used to be the banking hall, will not form a part of the application and will be retained for commercial use.
Instead, the former office and storage space of the bank located behind the banking hall and on the upper floors will make up the new flats. A new entrance into the residential part of the building, which can’t be seen from the High Street, will be made at the rear to separate the two uses.
The application was validated on Monday, February 19. No committee or decision date for the plans has been set by NNC as of yet.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Chris Lofts has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Corby and East Northants for the next General Election. He has much local government experience having served on various councils as well as working as deputy chief executive of the former South Northamptonshire Council.
He is involved in local charities including Age UK, Citizens Advice and Norpip. He is currently a Trustee of the Hawksmoor Learning Trust that delivers primary school education in the county.
Northamptonshire Children’s Trust Fostering Agency has improved from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’ in just 12 months, according to Ofsted. This is its third inspection since the trust’s registration in 2020 and the first time it has been rated anything higher than ‘requires improvement’.
The service is in charge of integrating children into homes across the county for both West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council. At the time of inspection, on January 15 – 19, 2024, there were 310 fostering households caring for 388 children.
The children’s services watchdog highlighted the agency’s effort to “better understand the quality of children’s lived experience” and to make care more “meaningful and child-centred”. It found that carers are provided with a wide range of training and a “wealth of experience” exists within the community.
“Overall, children are settled and make good progress. Many children remain with their foster carers for many years and into their adulthood,” it added.
In the Trust’s last full inspection in February 2023 ‘serious’ and ‘widespread’ failures were uncovered, ultimately resulting in an ‘inadequate’ rating for the service.
Safeguarding concerns were raised surrounding children’s complaints and concerns not being recognised and levels of staff and retention. Discoveries made by the watchdog included one child who was left ‘feeling suicidal’ and another case where drug paraphernalia found in a child’s bedroom was left uninvestigated.
One area that has improved over the past year is the time children spend with their social workers. The report wrote that the collaboration between foster families and social workers is improving, leading to easier identification of what makes children vulnerable and referrals to relevant services.
There have also been “significant improvements” in how well foster carers are supported and supervised. Children are also supported to spend time with their families and their educational needs are met.
Colin Foster, chief executive of Northamptonshire Children’s Trust said:
“It is fantastic that Ofsted judged our independent fostering agency as ‘good’. It is a real testament to the commitment and hard work of colleagues in the service to reach this.
“Our foster carers are critical to this and are an incredible asset, providing guidance, stability, support, and care to some of the most vulnerable children and young people.
“With a huge shortage of foster carers we would encourage anyone who has been considering fostering to get in touch with us.”
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Westminster Watch
The county’s first Labour MP for a decade Gen Kitchen took up her place at Westminster this week. Following her comprehensive defeat of Conservative rival Helen Harrison, the former fundraiser, has got straight into parliamentary business, signalling her distaste at the scenes at the house of commons earlier this week surrounding the motion about supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.
It might be more appropriate to dispense pink slips to the power brokers performing so poorly on behalf of all of us.
Excellent work by Keith Holland-Delamere for calling out our weak kneed Tory Council who seem to hope that the environmental catastrophy of the poor air quality will somehow disappear.
Similarly the Conservative MPs for the county are silent as a councils that they control sleepwalk into special measures for not dealing with these issues. I look forward to the Labour victor in the recent Wellingborough by election, Gen Kitchen being much more forceful in raising these issues.