Friday brief: It’s over for council leader
Jonathan Nunn stands down after the BBC reported further allegations from former partners, but looks likely to remain as councillor
The leader of West Northamptonshire Council has stood down following further reports of former partners alleging domestic abuse.
Cllr Jonathan Nunn made the statement just before 6pm last night saying that while he still denies the allegations, he decided to go because the situation was having a ‘huge impact on my mental health and wellbeing’.
The BBC yesterday reported allegations from five women, including two former partners with whom he had children. They say he abused and bullied them during their relationships. The neighbour of Janice Nunn, his second wife, also detailed how he had throttled her in her own home when his wife had ran to her house for safety.
Nunn, ‘strenuously’ denies all allegations, apart from the attack on Janice in 2003, for which he received a community service punishment. At the time he was allowed to remain as a member of the Conservative party, but stood down as a county councillor. He then returned to political life and in 2021 was elected by the Conservative group of West Northamptonshire Council as its leader.
We have decided not to publish the statement he issued in full yesterday as we are unsure of its accuracy.
It appears that he will not stand down as a councillor and the date of when he will go as leader is unclear. He may stay in the role until the annual general meeting of the council next month. In the meantime the deputy leader Adam Brown is likely to step up.
*The council has said this morning that Nunn is stepping down immediately and Cllr Brown will be interim leader.
NN Journal understands he made his decision following a private meeting of his cabinet yesterday. The chief executive of the council Anna Earnshaw had also failed to attend a meeting of the Northamptonshire Integrated Health Board yesterday, with the chair Naomi Eistenstadt, saying she had ‘something urgent to attend to’.
Only two Conservative councillors, Cllr James Hill and Cllr Cheryl Hawes made public statements about Jonathan Nunn’s behaviour. Cllr Pinder Chauhan, parliamentary candidate for Bedford and Kempston, made a private statement in a Whatsapp local Conservative group saying a meeting needed to be held as the news stories being published were ‘unpalatable’ and she felt ‘we are all implicated’. Another female councillor told us ‘staying silent is the hardest thing I have ever done’ and felt she could not speak out because of the wider group which she said is ‘very male dominated’.
The majority of the 63 strong Conservative councillors said nothing and NN Journal understands many still support the former leader.
The opposition groups have been calling for him to stand down since Private Eye published its original article last week.
The council itself has known of the ongoing matter for many months as his first wife Maria, who owns a nursery chain in the town and is in dispute with the authority regarding her business matters, has been emailing senior officers and councillors, but chief executive Anna Earnshaw told independent Cllr Paul Clark in an email, that ‘domestic abuse is a personal matter.’ Cllr Clark had been trying to expose the allegations in the council chamber, which he is entitled to do, but was prevented from doing so by the chairman of the council John Shepherd and the YouTube live feed was stopped.
The authority, which is a partner in an initiative to prevent violence against women, says ‘domestic abuse is never acceptable’. It has said only the police can investigate the allegations. Cllr Nunn has himself made a police complaint about harassment.
News in brief
Corrected article
Kettering General Hospital is set to move a ward into the community following the discovery of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in its roof.
Giving an update on the situation, hospital boss Deborah Needham said at the Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board meeting held in Kettering yesterday, that two of affected maternity wards had been moved elsewhere in the hospital.
A third maternity ward which still remains in the Rockingham Wing will be moved into the main hospital and as part of the move around another ward will move into the community. Details on that have not been made public by the hospital.
It is unclear when the hospital will have a dedicated maternity wing again. Deborah Needham said long term solutions being looked into included a new roof and what could be done with the new hospital build plans.
Recently the CQC rated the service as ‘requires improvement’.
In our original article we incorrectly said the maternity ward would be moved into the community. We apologise for the error *
The boss of the integrated care board Toby Sanders has said business cases for more funds for children’s speech and language therapy and health assessments for looked after children were being drawn up.
Children are having long waits for speech and language therapy in the county and statutory guidelines are not being met concerning health checks for children in local authority care.
A report to the ICB board yesterday showed that the organisation's committees had given limited assurance to the two matters.
At the meeting, the interim director of children’s services at North Northamptonshire Council David Watt, said following the recent SEN inspection by Ofsted (which condemned widespread and systemic failings) the watchdog would be back in the autumn for a full inspection and had indicated that care for looked after children would be a focus.
The ICB is currently £11.8m over budget, and the county’s health system as a whole (which includes mental health services and the two acute hospitals) will have spent at least £34m more than it has. The two biggest reasons for the overspends are inflation and a rise in demand for services. The ICB, which recently moved from offices in Northampton to Kettering, is making redundancies.
Men living in certain parts of West Northamptonshire could live almost 15 years longer than others just 20 miles away, according to “shocking” figures in a council report.
The local authority’s ‘Director of Public Health Annual Report 2023′, which addresses the current well-being needs of the public and health inequities, has revealed that, on average, people living in the most affluent areas of the county can expect to live eight or nine years longer than those in the most deprived areas.
In the most extreme case, the life expectancy of men in Brackley was 87, but the predicted expectancy dropped to just 72 years old in Castle ward, Northampton town centre. The disparity of life expectancy is also evident in women, with an upper age of 87 and a lower life expectancy age of 80 across the same areas.
Despite being only a 22-mile drive from one town to the other the differences are stark, largely lining up with West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) data on the most deprived areas. According to the report, 14 per cent of the population live in the 20 per cent most deprived areas.
The average life expectancy across the whole county is 79 for men and 83 for women, on par with the national average according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Sally Burns, West Northants Director of Public Health, said at a cabinet meeting setting out the report:
“The difference we see in life expectancy I agree is shocking and when you dig beneath the detail it’s down to a number of things- housing, employment, opportunities, environment- so the trick is understanding that.
“Everything that we all do can affect these health inequalities. Dealing with that is a long game so in a lot of these areas, we’re not going to get quick fixes.
“Yes, some of those figures are quite stark but this is the reason for the report- it’s to put that out there and really call the health system to account on it.”
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Over recent weeks the importance of local reporting has been shown, with the resignation of two leading politicians. Please help NN Journal to continue investigating, and become a paying member to help ensure the county has independent journalism that does not shy away from holding the powerful to account.
Real impact from NNJ and Private Eye's excellent work. The councillors who have protected, blocked and prevent inquiries are equally and personally accountable. They have endorsed abuse, fraud and misogyny: Mold, Addersley and Nunn have been encouraged, supported and protected by numerous councillors who should follow Nunn and resign.
I'm beyond angry about this. Because it took so long to come to the surface, because his grubby party has enabled him, because the system allows creeps like him to enter local politics unchecked.
If it wasn't for the BBC, Private Eye and the NNJ, this would still be happening. The Chronicle should be ashamed of themselves for running the "poor me" pity party last night. It was an absolute slap in the face for his victims.
As someone who lived with DA and coercive behaviour for many years, I recognise his phrasing, his deflection, his victimhood. He's a disgrace, acting the victim. Own it, apologise, disappear and take your posse of enablers with you.