Friday brief: Police officer seriously injured at road traffic incident
Our end of the week round up of some of this week's news
A police officer has been seriously injured after being hit by a car when attending a road traffic accident.
Northants Police say the incident happened at around 12.35am this morning (September 19), on Station Road, Raunds and the officer was hit by a blue volkswagen polo. They say the officer was responding to an unrelated single vehicle collision at the time of the accident.
The officer is currently in hospital with life threatening injuries.
A man in his 20s, who was driving the Polo was arrested at the scene and remains in custody.
Detectives from the collision unit say they would like to hear from anyone who may have dash-cam footage that captured any part of the collision or the events leading to it.
Anyone with information is asked to email CollisionAppeals@northants.police.uk or call 101 quoting incident number 25000551484.
News in brief
Northants group SEND Mummas took part in an ‘inspiring’ protest outside parliament this week, over growing concerns the government could get rid of important support for students with special educational needs.
Hundreds of parents from across the country stood on Parliament Square on Monday (September 15), brandishing homemade signs and calling on the government to listen to their voices on their SEND overhaul plans.
The rally was triggered by a debate in Westminster Hall on whether the government would commit to maintaining current levels of mandatory support for children. This was accompanied by growing concerns that education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which outline specific support for young people with complex needs, could be restricted or abolished.
Protesting on the day was mum Emma Briggs, who co-founded Northants SEND Mummas as a local support group. She spoke about how important EHCPs are for children with additional needs and the “catastrophic” impact when there isn’t one in place.
She said:
“My son is in mainstream school, he’s just started year 5, and when he started struggling in school he was in reception.
“His care plan is so important because [his learning is] tailored to him. Rather than going into a class and doing what everyone else is doing, it’s broken down.
“Some children just don’t learn that way- they process things differently and the EHCP is meant to help them do well.
“If they didn’t have that and they were expected to learn in the same way as neurotypical children it would be so difficult. If [the EHCP] wasn’t there, we don’t even know what the alternative would be.”
According to Department for Education (DfE) statistics from June 2025, 638,745 children nationally have EHCPs, the highest number since they were introduced a decade ago.
A parliamentary debate was called on Monday after more than 125,000 people signed a petition calling for commitment from ministers to ensure statutory responsibilities to assess and support children with SEND remain in place.
Emma said that it was “inspiring” to go to the rally with other members of the local group and meet parents from across the country who all want to raise awareness around the issue and make sure their voices are heard.
The government is expected to outline its education plans in the schools white paper, which will be published later this autumn.
The campaign, which is called ‘Fight for Ordinary’, was created to demand that children with special education needs get the same ordinary things as other children, such as a school place, as well as accountability in all parts of the SEND system. It has set out to champion families who want to get the support their children need “without an unnecessary fight”.
The DfE said it was committed to ensuring a legal right to additional support for children. It added that any changes to the SEND system, which it says are “badly needed”, will “improve support for families, stop parents from having to fight for support, and protect effective support currently in place”.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Arrests for attempted murder have been made after a teenager on an e-bike was hit by a car in Corby yesterday.
Police say the 18 year old is in a serious condition after being knocked down at the Rockingham Road shopping parade by a black Seat at about 4.30pm yesterday. Two men aged 34 and a woman, 40, have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remain in custody. Another man, 37, has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damaged and assaulting an emergency worker.
Anyone with information is asked to call Northants Police on 101 and quote reference 25000550963.
A planning application has been submitted for a new fire station in Kettering.
The plan is to site the new station on Cherry Holt Road next to the Northern Police Hub off the A6003 between Kettering and Corby.
If approval is given by the local planning authority it will replace the current station at Headlands which has been in use since 1955.
The planning application says that there will be a purpose-built fire station, a 203-square-metre storage building, and a four-storey fire training tower—designed to support both operational readiness and firefighter development.
West Northants councillors have voiced complaints about the authority’s planning committee system and a perceived bias in planning experts’ reports.
At a democracy and standards committee meeting earlier this week (Monday, September 8), members were invited to comment on some changes to planning protocol, which had been suggested after some recent concerns about the process.
However, Cllr Ian McCord (Independent, Deanshanger and Paulerspury) accused the changes of being a “sticking plaster over the problem” and the conversation descended into grievances with the authority’s committee system.
Some planning proposals are out of the control of elected members and are automatically approved or denied by West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) team of officers. However, there are occasions where applications will go before a panel of councillors who will have the final say.
This is usually for ‘major’ developments that exceed 10 homes, more than 1000sqm of new floor space, or where they have been called in to the meeting by a ward councillor.
Planning officers are tasked with putting together a report ahead of these meetings, summing up the concept of the development, any letters of objections or support, how it relates to technical planning policy and standards that must be upheld, as well as a weighing up of the positives and negatives and their ultimate recommendation of approval or refusal.
Concerns were raised by multiple councillors that these documents are not balanced enough and do not give members the tools to refuse an application when they disagree with the officer’s advice.
Cllr McCord said that officers were often “biased to their recommendation” and that committee members sometimes struggled to engage if they were indicating on voting contrary to that advice.
He suggested putting an alternative options section within the reports which would give councillors more support on coming up with materially sound reasons to turn a project down.
Cllr Fiona Cole (Conservative , Hackleton and Roade), also agreed, saying that planning officers sitting on the committees sometimes appeared to be ‘insulted’ if members did not choose to go with their recommendations.
She also raised concerns from a particular planning application in her ward, where she felt objections from members of the public had been “cherry-picked” and did not reflect accurately “four years of angst”.
A WNC spokesman said:
“West Northamptonshire Council is committed to upholding the highest standards of transparency, integrity and professionalism in all planning matters.
“We follow established legal processes and adhere to recognised codes of conduct to ensure fair and consistent decision-making, with the Council’s planning service exceeding national targets for determining planning applications.
“The role of members on the planning committee carries specific duties and as such there is extensive training to help committee members fulfil their legal duties.
“The Council also recognises that members more widely have an important role to play in representing their communities and asking questions about developments, plans and arrangements that effects their wards.
“We try hard to respond to these and all resident enquiries in what is one of the busiest planning services in the area. We also provide specific ‘planning surgeries’ for members to discuss questions and offer a similar service for town and parish councils and developers.
“People are encouraged to comment on planning applications through the standard process and members can raise concerns through the appropriate channels, which are carefully considered and addressed in line with our governance procedures.”
Report by Nadia Lincoln
Events
🔥 A special event is being held tomorrow from 11am at the Market Square, Northampton, to mark 350 years since the Great Fire.
Read again
We published a special report yesterday featuring families who are wondering whether their health concerns have been caused by Corby’s toxic waste clean up. Here it is again if you missed it.
