Friday brief: ‘I don’t even want to vote. That’s how bad it’s got’
Our Friday news roundup
With less than a week to local election day, here’s a piece from Northants’ local democracy reporter Nadia Lincoln who visited the left behind area of Kingswood in Corby, to ask residents for their views.
In just a week, local elections will take place across the county, but not everyone will cast their votes. Political apathy and distrust in parties continue to be barriers for some, with many Corby residents questioning how much weight their vote truly carries.
In May 2021 North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) held its first set of elections, with 78 new councillors elected across 26 electoral wards. This year, on May 1, NNC will return 68 councillors across 31 wards in a shake-up of electoral boundaries. It remains to be seen how the changes will affect voting habits.
Though the Conservative party currently holds a large majority within the authority, Corby has returned a strong Labour presence on the council, with all but the Corby Rural ward turning red in 2021. Voters also elected a Labour-run town council, which will be facing the polls again at the same time.
People in the town spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) about the upcoming elections, the issues that they care about that could influence their vote, and their general feelings about the local parties.
In the Kingswood ward, which had the lowest voter turnout rate in Corby in the 2021 election, at just 27.3 per cent, there was a sense from individuals that, whatever way they voted, nothing would change.
Friends Vikki Dunnachie and Stella Mitchell, 58, said they felt let down and disconnected from politics altogether. They brought up issues with poor lighting on the Kingswood estate and an increase in anti-social behaviour from young people, making them feel at risk in their own neighbourhood.
“I’ve lived on this estate for 40-odd years and before you would walk anywhere, now at night it’s a no-go,” Stella said, “It’s like with the shooting a couple of weeks ago, when have you ever heard of that in Corby?”
“There’s a lot changed. It’s sad actually because this is our community and we all look out for each other, but nobody’s looking out for us.
“Labour’s come in from the general election and what have they done? They’ve screwed everybody basically. I don’t even want to vote, that’s how bad it’s got.”
Vikki added:
“It’s scary. I’ve got my grandkids staying with me as well and I wouldn’t let them out.
“What’s the point [in voting]? I’m Labour, but I think Labour’s s**t at the moment. People think nothing’s going to change and why bother.”
A 39-year-old dad who lives on the estate, who asked not to be named, raised similar concerns about how much his vote would actually make a difference:
“When you’re voting and still see no change it’s pointless in my eyes. I voted in the general election, but I’m probably not going to vote this time.
“I don’t think any one of them is different from the other one, so there’s no point. Whoever gets voted in, nothing’s going to change; they all promise, but it’s never kept.
“A lot of the people that I speak to don’t vote. I suppose it’s a bad time to hold a local election because of what’s happened since the general election – people have lost faith.”
Another Kingswood resident, Vicki Maddocks, said that who she votes for at the polls will be influenced by their connection and passion for the local area.
“You spend more time looking at potholes than you do the actual road which is a bit of a nightmare.
“You sort of feel like who do you vote for? A lot of people felt like Labour getting in was going to change a lot of stuff – and has it?
“It’s just nice to have somebody in there who actually cares about the community that they live in. As long as it’s somebody from this area who’s lived here a long time and knows the issues, but until they get in they don’t know what they can do and what they can’t.
“That would be the way I go – someone who I think had Kingswood and Corby in general to heart and trying to move it forward.”
Moving away from Kingswood and into the town centre, Vincent Smith, 62, said that the state of the roads locally and the amount of money and disruption caused by the new cycle path were issues he cared about going into the election.
He continued:
“I don’t think the local council do a great deal for us. I voted Conservative all my life except for last time I voted Reform and I’ll be going Reform as well for the local elections.
“They might not have much experience, but they can’t be any worse than what we’ve got at the minute. They got a scare from Reform in the general election and I think the more by-elections we have hopefully it will send a message.”
Summer, 25, picked up potholes, anti-social behaviour and overflowing healthcare facilities as the main issues she saw locally.
“Potholes have definitely got a lot worse and anti-social behaviour has definitely increased. Obviously, that might not necessarily be to do with the council, but the council can do something about it.
“Something for teenage kids is needed because there’s not much to actually do in that sense in Corby. You’ve got a few places, but unless it involves drugs, alcohol, things like that, there’s nothing to do.
“We need dentists, we need healthcare because it’s nowhere near enough for the amount of people that we’ve got here. I have to pay to get an emergency healthcare dentist because there’s no spaces in NHS dentists whatsoever.”
However, her frustrations have turned into disillusionment with politics, as she has said she won’t bother voting this year.
“Whichever party you go for it’s still going to be s**t,” Summer said, “They’re still going to promise things and then not deliver. There’s no interest in it whatsoever.
“I feel like you could pick someone off of the street and put them in the council and they’d do a better job because they’re not blinded and their interests are pure. I think people are seeing it for what it is now.”
Residents across North and West Northamptonshire will go to the polls on Thursday, May 1, to cast their votes in the unitary and town and parish council elections.
To gain a majority on the unitary authority, a political party will need to take 35 seats across all wards. The results of the NNC elections will be announced the day after polls close, on Friday, May 2. Town and parish council results will be counted on Saturday, May 3.
News in brief
Police have warned there looks to be a bad batch of drugs circulating after three men were treated for drug induced psychosis in Wellingborough over the Easter weekend.
Police and paramedics were called to an address in the town shortly before 5pm on Sunday following reports of a male having taken an overdose and showing signs of so-called acute behavioural disturbance. Just hours later police were called to a hotel in the town after a 33-year-old man was found to be experiencing a similar psychosis. And then later on Monday there was another call to a 38-year-old suffering the same effects. Both were treated at Kettering General Hospital.
Detective inspector Beth Warren of Northamptonshire Police CID, said the incidents were concerning.
She said:
“We would never advocate anyone taking illegal drugs, but we acknowledge there are people in our communities with drug addictions. It’s vital that we put the message out around our concerns that there may be drugs in circulation which are causing really acute behavioural disturbance.”
Today police have said Public Health are involved in the investigations and they cannot be entirely sure the cases are linked. They do not have samples of the drugs taken.
Anyone with any information, or concerns about drugs in their community, is urged to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
The North unitary has spent approximately £10,000 on the upkeep of a disused listed building in Wellingborough town centre.
Croyland Hall and Croyland Abbey have sat vacant since the former borough council stopped using the building as offices in 2011. North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has confirmed that the buildings are still in its ownership and it is considering ‘various uses’ for the building.
An NNC spokesperson added:
“North Northamptonshire Council retains ownership of these properties and is actively reviewing options to bring them back into beneficial use for delivering services to the local community. Due to the nature of the buildings and their important local status, permissible uses are limited, which has delayed their return to use.”
The Grade II-listed Abbey was built in the mid-1500s on the site of a medieval grange.
Proposals came forward in 2016 to convert the town centre buildings into 14 rental apartments but the scheme did not go forward due to viability issues.
Since NNC took over in 2021 the authority has spent approximately £2,500 each year on maintenance costs.
NNC has said that any decision on the future use of the property will follow the Council’s governance process.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
More arrests have been made in the Corby town centre shooting attack.
A 17-year-old was shot at about 4pm on April 11 in the Hazel Wood area close to the leisure complex and Corby Cube.
A 20-year-old man from the town was arrested days after the attack on suspicion of attempted murder as well as another Corby man aged, 54, who was suspected of being involved in the murder attempt as well as supplying class A drug. Both have been released on bail as well as a woman, 45 who was arrested on suspicion of helping an offender.
This week three more arrests were made with a 45 year old Corby man arrested on suspicion of murder and two men from Kettering, aged 75 and 37 were arrested on suspicion of helping an offender. All have been released on bail pending further enquiries.
The West unitary has decided not to fight against a planning appeal for an 11-hectare business and warehousing zone after similar plans for a massive DHL site were approved.
West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) planning committee rejected proposals to develop the land next to the Bell Plantation garden centre in Towcester in November 2024. An appeal was later submitted by the applicant Alban Mann LLP to call in an inspector to reassess the plans.
At the same time, an appeal was ongoing for a large 32-hectare warehouse development, led by DHL, next to the Bell Plantation site off the A5. Despite ferocious campaigning and a gruelling nine-day public inquiry into the controversial plans, fought by WNC and Save Towcester Now, the inspectorate ruled that the logistics hub should be approved.
On Tuesday, April 22, WNC called on its strategic planning committee to discuss its case for the Bell Plantation development appeal, which is set to go to a public inquiry on June 3. Planning officer Daniel Callis told members that the sites form part of the same employment zone allocation and had “very significant crossover” for their refusal reasons.
The committee was told that in light of the decision on the adjoining DHL appeal, the authority’s refusal reasons of visual impacts and highway matters were “no longer sustainable”. Planning documents stated that the authority therefore intended to make a “no case to answer submission” and withdraw its reasons for refusal.
Cllr Charles Manners criticised issues raised in the DHL appeal, where he said policies from the council’s core strategies weren’t properly transferred to the allocated employment sites.
He added:
“If we’d have been firmer in that interpretation, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now. I deeply regret that.
“We’ve clearly got to support this because we lost the appeal.”
Cllr Bob Purser agreed, saying that the council needs to learn from the developments and that they were ‘clearly let down’ by previous planning policies.
All members voted unanimously for WNC to withdraw its reasons for refusal from the appeal and make no submissions against the plans.
According to the report, it is anticipated that the public inquiry will still proceed, but with a greatly reduced timetable. Instead, it will focus on hearing from members of the public and discussing conditions and S106 obligations for the development.
WNC says the inspector will advise on the inquiry further once they submit their ‘no contest’ decision.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Westminster Watch
Corby MP’s spoke in parliament this week about the planning error which landed some residents with a huge warehouse on the doorstep and an extensive legal bill.
NNC’s planning blunder, in which they notified the wrong addresses, led to the Hooke Close warehouse being granted planning permission unchallenged. The residents now face an expensive legal bill after trying to take on the local authority.
The MP said:
“Residents took the council to court. The judge criticised the council, however it had to be ruled out because it was out of time. Now the council, who didnt consult the residents, is pursuing £5,000 in legal costs from the very people it failed.”
Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell MP said it sounded like a ‘troubling case’ and said she would raise it with ministers.
NN Journal is funded by our readers. We choose to have no adverts and our reporting is entirely independent. If you can support us, for just £6 a month, just click this link
I have heard similar disillusionment while canvassing in recent weeks. People can get a fresh approach by voting Green, but I fear they will rebel by voting Reform. Grievance-based populism is easy to sell to people who don't have good critical thinking skills.