Friday brief: High profile Hillsborough lawyer to grill Northants chief constable at disciplinary hearing
Plus news about a new Kettering General Hospital inspection, housing plans and of course the general
A high profile lawyer, regarded as the go to for police forces, has been taken on by the Northamptonshire police, fire and crime commissioner for the gross misconduct hearing.
John Beggs KC will grill Nick Adderley on his naval career and incorrect wearing of Falklands war medals in the three day disciplinary hearing which will start at Northampton Saints on Tuesday. Reporting restrictions have been lifted after representations from the media, so what happens in the disciplinary can be fully reported.
Adderley, has been suspended on full pay since October, after the Sun first reported he had worn medals to a police awards do last July that could not have been his own.
Despite claiming throughout his policing career that he had served in the 1982 Falkland conflict, he would only have been 15 at the time.
Since then other seeming discrepancies in his career have come to light as NN Journal exclusively revealed last October, that he had said on his CV presented to the panel who interviewed him for the Northants top job in 2018 that he was a ‘Commander in the navy’. There is no evidence he reached officer level and it is believed he only served two years in the navy.
John Beggs has had a big career, representing the match commander David Duckenfield at the Hillsborough inquest and also Surrey Police in the inquest of soldier pte Cheryl James,18, who died from a gunshot wound at Deepcut Barracks in 1995.
An introduction to Mr Beggs on his law firm’s website says:
“John Beggs KC is a sought-after silk. He is recommended as a Star Individual by Chambers & Partners, which records that “he is probably the best cross-examiner outside the Criminal Bar” and that “he is so respected that it is normally a fight between authorities and defence lawyers to see who can approach him first to represent their clients.” He has helped shape police law in the UK, appearing in many key cases of recent years, especially in the field of police inquests, police misconduct and vetting issues.”
The cost of employing Beggs will be huge and shows the seriousness with which the commissioner’s office has been taking the allegations made against the chief constable. He was appointed by former commissioner Stephen Mold, who earlier this month was replaced by new commissioner Danielle Stone.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service with its findings of an investigation into Adderley. He could face misconduct in public office and fraud charges.
Adderley is also under investigation by the Staffordshire Police (under direction of the IOPC) for matters relating to his time as assistant chief constable. This involves the maintenance of police vehicles.
News in brief
Northampton North MP Michael Ellis announced yesterday evening that he will not be seeking re-election on July 4. The former attorney general who has been the MP since 2010, shared a letter in which he said he had told PM Rishi Sunak of his decision last week. In his letter he said his lobbying had helped secure the Towns Fund millions that is paying to regenerate the town centre, and also that he was the only MP from the town to serve in the cabinet for more than 100 years.
As we reported back in December, the MP had taken on a second job with a London law firm.
Labour candidate Lucy Rigby has been out on the doorsteps for several months, with Chris Leggett standing for the Lib Dems. Independent councillor Paul Clark has also announced his intention to stand.
(More Westminister news further down)
A damning report has been announced about Kettering General Hospital after an unannounced visit by Care Quality Commission inspectors.
Once again the state of the accident and emergency department was severely criticised, in particular the staffing levels, which had been reduced in September 2023 to the concern of staff, and also issues in the children’s a and e were found, particularly the lack of privacy for children.
The leadership of the hospital was also said to have declined.
Following the report’s publication on Wednesday chief executive Deborah Needham said since the inspection changes had been made and there is a new tool to ensure safe staffing levels were maintained.
She said:
“We were pleased that inspectors recognised that our staff are caring, compassionate, and kind to patients and their families, and that our overall rating for caring remains good. We are especially pleased that our significant efforts to improve children’s and young people’s services have been recognised with an improved rating. We clearly still have a lot of work to do in this area but I was proud to see that the CQC described our staff as working well as a team, and that we treat children, young people and their families with compassion and kindness.
“We will be working hard to address the issues raised, however, we recognise that the ratings are indicative of the immense operational pressures our hospital, like many others up and down the country, continue to face and that our teams continue to do an incredible job to provide safe and effective care to our patients.
“We’re inviting CQC to visit us again to look at the well-led domain as it was re-rated without a specific inspection and we feel we have a wealth of positive evidence to share with them on this.”
We will have more on this report after the hospital trust board meeting on June 5.
Permission to continue building on a massive residential development to the east of Kettering has now been approved by the council, bringing plans for a new junction on the A14 with it.
The Hanwood Park estate, which was first given outline approval in 2010, has now been given the green light to build the final 3,383 homes and associated community buildings and infrastructure.
A total of 2,117 houses had already been approved by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC), with approximately 1,400 occupied, however new permission is required as the original outline consent has expired.
Plans for junction 10A between Barton Seagrave and Cranford have been in the pipeline for years as part of the 5,500-home Hanwood Park development. Without the key infrastructure, a limit would be imposed on the amount of homes on site that could be occupied.
In March this year, the roads minister confirmed the new junction would be included in the third phase of the government’s road investment strategy.
Fiona Banks, chair of the Hanwood Park Residents’ Association, said:
“Since moving to Hanwood Park in 2017 we have been working to build a thriving community. We have some major challenges that this planning application will help with.
“The two sections of Hanwood Park are currently not connected by any meaningful route, which causes a challenge in bringing our community together.
“I support this planning application which will help us to grow our already thriving community.”
The rest of the project will be built over two phases over a 10-year period, seeing the development completed towards 2035. When the neighbourhood is finished, it is estimated to house 15,000 people as one of the biggest urban extensions in the country.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Plans for hundreds of new homes to be built on brownfield sites in the centre of Northampton have been pushed back due to concerns raised over potential traffic issues and suffering local facilities.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) deferred its decision on 217 houses to the north of Ransome Road, Far Cotton, yesterday (May 21). The grounds have been left abandoned since the Northampton to Peterborough Branch Railway closed in the 1970s and a former landfill on the site was cleared.
The applicants, Tilia Homes, promised a mix of two to four-bed homes in a range of dwellings, including 24 affordable apartments. Green open space and a play park were also proposed within this parcel to the south of the residential area.
The site will be entirely accessed from Ransome Road which contains residential housing and leads on to an industrial area further along the lane.
Previous plans for the development that were approved in 2004, but never materialised, suggested cars could enter through Bedford Road, now called University Drive. Plans state that this access route is no longer possible due to the road now being privately owned by the University of Northampton.
Cllr Julie Davenport (Independent, Delapre and Rushmere) said:
“For the last seven years I’ve been chasing to find out what will happen to the area we call ‘the wasteland’ in Ransome Road.
“Residents do want something to happen with the land as the area attracts fly-tipping, dumping of cars and anti-social behaviour. It’s a mess.
“It now raises great concerns and as the plan stands it will have a huge negative impact on residents and on the highways.”
Representative for Tilia Homes, Richard West said:
“The proposals seek to regenerate a redundant, contaminated brownfield site in a highly sustainable location close to the town centre.
“There is significant benefit in delivering much-needed housing in such a location in addition to the excellent open space proposals.
“This proposal represents a fantastic opportunity to finally bring forward a 12-hectare site of disused and derelict land which has been subject to a long-running, multi-million-pound programme to facilitate its regeneration.”
The planning committee resolved to defer the application to look into potential traffic regulation orders (TROs) that could help to mitigate and alleviate some concerns around the increased vehicle movements along the road. The plans will go back to committee for the final decision.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Westminster Watch
There will be a few frantic weeks of political campaigning now after the PM yesterday pulled the starting trigger for a July 4 election.
Four of the six current serving Conservative MPs in the county will be recontesting their seats, with a replacement yet to be named for Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris who announced at the weekend he would not stand again and Michael Ellis who made his decision public yesterday.
It is not yet known whether Helen Harrison, the partner of former Wellingborough MP Peter Bone, will try and contest the Wellingborough seat again. She was heavily defeated by Labour’s Gen Kitchen in February. We asked the party whether anyone had been selected and were given a generic comment. Harrison has many friends in the Wellingborough association hierarchy so could be well placed for selection unless Tory HQ decide not to allow her another attempt. The Liberal Democrat’s have selected Christopher Townsend as the Wellingborough candidate.
Since the election announcement two serving independent councillors on West Northamptonshire Council have announced their intention to stand. Cllr Paul Clark, who represents Billing and Rectory Farm will be standing as an independent in Northampton North and former leader of South Northamptonshire Council Ian McCord will be standing against Andrea Leadsom in South Northants.
NN Events
⌚ A charity fundraiser valuation day is being held by Click Antiques and vintage on Tuesday. The Antiques roadshow style event will take place at their premises at 8 Moore Street, Northampton from 11am to 4pm and will raise funds for Marie Curie.
Interesting week coming up, looking forward to reading the details in NN Journal.
I think it is disgraceful that this man has been suspended on full pay since October. None of us ordinary workers would get that and it’s our money that’s paying him.