Friday brief: Disgraced councillor welcomed to Tory Christmas bash
Plus stories from across the county
The former leader of West Northamptonshire Council who had to quit after a series of domestic abuse allegations, has been welcomed at a Tory Christmas bash.
Jonathan Nunn, who is now an independent councillor, quit the leadership in April after an expose by Private Eye and the BBC revealed new allegations of domestic abuse about him.
In the early 2000s he had stood down as a Tory councillor after he attacked an ex-wife in a Northampton street.
He denies the latest allegations and even complained to the police about stalking from first wife Maria Botterill, who after her home had been visited by a car load of officers to arrest her, was told by police they believed that Cllr Nunn had manipulated the criminal justice system.
The police have not questioned Nunn concerning the new domestic abuse allegations.
But on Saturday, despite his political disgrace, Nunn was welcomed to the Northampton South Conservative Christmas buffet at the association’s headquarters in George Row, Northampton and joined in with festivities.
Chairman of Northampton South Association, Cllr Nick Sturges-Alex- told NN Journal anyone can attend the party and he saw no issue in Nunn’s attendance.
He said:
“He has lots of people who he knows within the party. I don't think it is necessary for him to be cut off from people.”
News in brief
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) approved a £3m loan to a shopping centre this week but opposition councillors have voiced concerns.
The authority will give a £2m loan to the Grosvenor Shopping Centre owners, Evolve, to help move H&M into the centre and another £1m to support the introduction of flexible workspaces into the venue.
A further £375k capital investment from WNC will also be made to introduce ‘micro shops’ in vacant space on the first floor of the Grosvenor Centre.
Cllr Ian McCord (Deanshanger, Independent) told cabinet members at a meeting on Tuesday:
“I’m not happy with any of this report. I do not believe that it is the job of WNC to be providing loans to private sector retailers, particularly global operators with billions of pounds of turnover.
“Local governments in general do not have a very good history with loans to the private sector and I’m not very comfortable with any of this.”
Labour group leader, Cllr Wendy Randall also expressed her apprehension on the loans. She called the arrangements “bizarre”, referencing the £2 a year rent afforded to the centre.
Replying, finance portfolio holder, Cllr Malcolm Longley explained:
“Bizarre is correct. What we have here is a method of extraction from what’s a very intractable problem.
“It’s a legacy thing. We didn’t make any of these decisions, we’re trying to extract ourselves from what was a very bizarre arrangement and this is currently where we stand.”
The former Northampton Borough Council (NBC) which notoriously lost £10m of taxpayers money through a bad deal with the town’s football club, made the ‘bizarre’ deal.
Council documents state that under the current sublease the council has on Belgrave House, which was taken out by (NBC) in March 2021, the building can only be used for residential purposes for key workers. Plans for the apartments, known as ‘Clock House’, were scrapped earlier this year due to increased costs, partly because of enhanced fire protection requirements.
However, WNC is still subject to paying a service charge and insurance charge for the building. The authority revealed that recent charges totalled around £85k per year.
Council leader Cllr Adam Brown said:
“I think I had some of the same reservations that my opposition colleagues set out when I first read the paper. My mind was put at ease by the level of security being sought for the loan- you couldn’t mitigate the risk any more in my view.“If it were the case of lending a retailer £2 million from the public purse, this paper wouldn’t be before us today- I would’ve killed it at inception.
“I think given the intractability of the problems around Belgrave House and the mess that was created around that particular lease- we are closer in historical terms to the Battle of Hastings than we are to the end of that lease- to extricate ourselves from that lease requires some manoeuvring. This is not only a solution to that problem but also a proposal that brings together a lot of benefits.”
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
The local Church of England diocese has issued a public apology for the suffering of young mothers in a Northampton home.
An ITV investigation this week found at least 200 babies from mother and baby homes across the country were buried without proper funerals or gravestones. As many as half a million girls and young women, many from working class backgrounds, were forced to hand over their babies for adoption. St Saviours Home in Harlestone Road was one of the homes that engaged in forced adoption and the ITV report says 11 babies who died were buried in unmarked graves.
Campaign group Movement for an Adoption Apology wants the government to say sorry for the suffering caused to the mothers and their children.
The Peterborough diocese said in its statement:
“We are sincerely sorry for the pain and loss suffered by those affected by their time at St Saviours Home in Northampton and acknowledge the hurt and distress that continues to be endured by those who felt they had no option but to have their children adopted or whose babies were buried in unmarked graves.
We invite anyone who feels they have been harmed or affected by this to come forward and speak to our safeguarding team.£
https://www.peterborough-diocese.org.uk/safeguarding/
NN Journal is looking into the practices at St Saviours Home in the Dallington area of Northampton. If you have any information, or know anyone who gave birth or worked at the homes, you can contact NN Journal in confidence at the email address at the end of this post.
Reform UK has its first councillors in Northants after two councillors on the North unitary have defected.
Cllr Martin Griffiths, the former leader of Wellngborough borough council and Cllr Ken Harrington have joined Nige Farage’s party.
Cllr Griffiths quit the Tories a few years ago and has been sitting as an independent and Cllr Harrington, who has been on various Northants councils has now left the Conservative group.
Demolition plans for Kettering’s only cinema have been green-lit by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC), despite massive numbers of people coming together in an attempt to save the venue.
The applicant Rockmount Kettering Limited said in planning documents that the town’s Odeon, located in the eastern part of Kettering Leisure Park, would be vacating the property in February 2025 and that continued operation of a cinema in the building “is not a viable or feasible proposition”.
Papers submitted to NNC also state that Odeon itself “declared their intention to vacate the property”, but an objection submitted by the manager alleges that they had “no intention” of closing and were being forced to vacate by landlords.
More than 2,000 people signed a petition to pledge their support for the venue and halt its closure. However, according to planning documents only five formal objections were submitted to the council’s website.
The council granted demolition permission on December 5. According to documents submitted by Rockmount Kettering Limited, works are expected to start at the beginning of March 2025 and should be completed by the end of May.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Ridiculous responses
This week’s ridiculous response involves North Northamptonshire Council and the Home Office. In the immediate days after the murder of Harshita Brella, we asked the council why domestic homicide reviews from Kettering relating to deaths in 2018 had not been published by the authority’s community safety partnership. This is a body that meets in private, and as reported last week, has not been publishing annual reviews as it had promised.
In response the authority published the outstanding domestic homicide reviews on its website on November 29, but repeatedly refused to answer questions about when the home office’s domestic homicide review assurance panel - which signs off the reports - had given the council clearance to publish the reviews - which are supposed to act as learning tools for public bodies.
At the start of December we were told by the council’s deputy chief executive Guy Holloway, who has responsibility for the media team, that he would provide a response, but several days later no response came, and then on he incorrectly said another member of his team had provided the answers.
Unable to get an answer, the Home Office was contacted, which said the authority had published the reviews without permission.
A spokesman said they had asked the authority for additional information in 2021, but the council had not provided the information and the reviews had not been before the government’s assurance panel for ratification.
The council removed the reviews from its website on Wednesday, however NN Journal made a copy of all the details and will publish a report in the new year.
The fact they are so comfortable with his presence says all you need to know about the Conservatives
As though one was needed, but another clear demonstration by Northampton Conservatives of how they don't care at all about the victims of domestic abuse or the work of the various abuse charities. Unfeeling, uncaring and indifferent and that is me being polite! Remember the WNC Tories were supporting Nunn until the story of his long history of domestic abuse appeared in the national and local media. Shame on him and shame on the Conservatives.
The Tories are completely tone deaf and shameless. I hope this is remembered by voters next May.