Friday brief: Pop concert costs council more than quarter of a million quid
Our usual Friday round up of some Northants news
A pop concert organised by West Northants Council last summer cost the authority more than £250,000.
James Arthur headlined the Perfect Day event held at Delapre Abbey in June, which was organised by the council in partnership with UK Live/Kilimanjaro, who held the Let’s Rock event at the same venue the day before.
Information given to West Northamptonshire Council’s Corporate Scrutiny committee in October has revealed the Perfect Day event, cost the council £262,000. It was a ticketed event costing more than £40 per person, with some concessions for nearby residents and local emergency staff.
The papers reveal the authority shelled out £364,000 to host the event and received an income of £102,000 leaving it with the shortfall. Kilimanjaro invested £623,000 into their previous day event, although the papers do not reveal how much profit the company made. Altogether 13,300 people attended the event, with 5,000 on the day organised by the council.
Although the concerts were sold as separate events it appears the budgets were pooled.
The report says:
“Our shared investment covered the cost of artists, all event infrastructure including staging, bars, lighting, sound, family activities, food and beverage, plus marketing, staffing, security, traffic management, licences, ticketing platforms, PRS payment and insurances.”
The sign off for the event did not go to the council, rather it was approved as part of the budget setting process last Spring. It is unclear what costs Delapre Abbey incurred, if any.
The papers say the event brought in an estimated £417,000 into the local economy, through hotel stays and eating out in local venues, but at the meeting councillors voiced their concerns.
Minutes says:
Councillor Randall addressed the Committee commenting that she had concerns about this event that had been held in June 2024 in particular the investment into it of around £300,000. She was not aware that this had been debated at full Council and the funds had come from a grant. Councillor Randall added that there were plenty of events across Northamptonshire that could have benefited from these funds. She was concerned at the price of the tickets for this event at £45 per head. In addition parking had been difficult for the event and permits had to be applied for.
Minutes reveal other matters raised were:
The Committee felt there was a lack of clarity of the objectives for this event on what it was to achieve. It was highlighted that this was a strategic event and the council is working with North Northants Council regarding the production of a tourism strategy.
Councillors supported promoting economic activity but enquired about the criteria for the event, whether there was a score card or evaluation.
The scrutiny committee resolved to put further questions to the cabinet member for local economy, culture and leisure, Cllr Daniel Lister at its next meeting on January 26.
News in brief
Northants hospitals have declared a critical incident for the third January in a row.
On Tuesday the county’s two general hospitals announced the critical incident following the call a day earlier by the East Midlands Ambulance Service, which operates across Northants and four neighbouring counties. The ambulance service had declared a critical incident for the first time in its history as it was unable to cope with increased demand plus the floods that hit the region.
Both hospitals are operating at over capacity and have not been able to keep pace with the housing and population growth in the area. Plans to rebuild Kettering General Hospital are under review by the Labour government and the hospital’s senior boss in charge of the project Polly Grimmett said this autumn that a new hospital would not open within the next five years as had been hoped.
MP for Kettering Rosie Wrighting said:
"The extreme pressure the NHS is under locally for the third January running shows just how vital health service reforms recently announced by the Labour Government, to end hospital backlogs and provide millions more appointments, are.
"Years of neglect under the Conservatives have left us in this position. We’ve been doing what we can to prepare for winter since coming into office, including ending the strikes, so this is the first winter in three years when staff are on the front line and not the picket line.
"Now we must build an NHS that is fit for the future. I made visiting Kettering General Hospital a priority after being elected and I will be seeking another visit to see the impact of winter pressures first-hand."
This week the Kettering hospital announced that cancer patients will soon receive free on -site parking, in line with Northampton.
A number of other NHS trusts across the country have also declared critical incidents, as a flu wave, respiratory illness and bad weather is affecting capacity.
An inquiry will be held after councillors threw out plans for a large solar farm on countryside in rural Northamptonshire.
The energy facility would have covered 145 acres of farmland by the A14 near Thrapston. Applicant Wood Lodge Solar Project Limited said that the site could have powered up to 15,000 homes when fully operational.
The plans were turned down by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) in October 2024 due to the impact on the landscape and loss of habitat in the Upper Nene Valley area.
An inquiry led by the planning inspectorate is now expected to take place on May 20. NNC must be able to defend its refusal decision or else the project permission could be overturned.
At the time, planning officers encouraged the committee to approve the solar farm proposals. NNC officers wrote in their planning report that it was their view that “the benefits of renewable energy raise substantial benefits in favour of the proposal” that would outweigh the identified harms.
The scheme received dozens of objections from local residents and campaign groups who said the development would dominate the countryside landscape and take up valuable agricultural land.
During the meeting, the chair of the planning committee reflected that the plans were “very finely balanced”. After discussions and an adjournment to seek officers’ advice, members voted to refuse the solar farm development.
A planning statement submitted by Wood Lodge Solar Project before the committee meeting said there was an “urgent” need to transition to clean, renewable energy. They claimed that their solar farm scheme would contribute towards energy and sustainability goals, saving around 21,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Local campaign group STAUNCH (Save Titchmarsh and Upper Nene Countryside and Habitat), which has been a strong protestor against the development, said it will support NNC in its rejection in the appeal process.
A spokesperson added: “Our main focus is making sure the Special Protection Area that we are lucky enough to have on our doorstep is actually protected. This development is on land linked to the SPA and is vital to the survival of Golden Plover and Lapwing – species which are both in severe decline.”
A decision date for the appeal is yet to be decided. Representations from interested parties will be due at the start of next month.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
The public school at the centre of abuse allegations by Charles Spencer has announced this week that it will close.
Trustees at Maidwell Hall say financial pressures plus the new VAT levy that is being introduced to public schools this year have had an impact and led to the decision. The school will close at the end of this academic year.
Maidwell was part of the Uppingham School trusts group, after being taken over in a financial rescue package in 2022, and chair of trustees Barbara Matthews, issued a statement this week.
In his memoir A Very Private School Earl Spencer claimed he was physically and sexually abused by some staff when he was there as a child boarder.
Maidwell Hall, which is in Maidwell, said it was sorry the earl and others had suffered that experience.
West Northants Council’s director for adult social care Stuart Lackenby, is leaving the authority and going to Birmingham City Council.
He has been at the authority since it begun and has been involved in setting up the local area partnerships as well as creating an anti-poverty strategy.
North Northamptonshire Council refused to approve the solar farm "due to the impact on the landscape and loss of habitat", but they need to consider the impact of the climate and ecological crises if we don't significantly reduce burning gas to generate electricity. The solar farm company says it will save around 21,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
As for it being built on "valuable agricultural land", it’s better to have 0.6% of our land impacted by solar farms than 100% of our land impacted by extreme weather caused by the climate crisis. Currently solar farms occupy less than 0.1% of the UK’s land. To meet the government’s net zero target, the Climate Change Committee estimates that we will need 70GW of solar by 2035 and 90GW by 2050. That would mean solar farms would at most account for approximately 0.6% of UK land – less than the amount currently occupied by golf courses. Once we’ve built the solar farms that we need we’ll still have 99.4% of land left for farming.
The statement from STAUNCH that the land is "linked to" the Special Protection Area sounds disingenuous. If it were in the SPA then they'd say so. It sounds like nimbyism.
Decades ago our options were between a good future and a bad future. We had decades of time in which to switch away from hydrocarbon fuels and enter into a good future. But our spineless politicians didn't want to make the hard decisions and just kicked the climate can down the road. Today our options are between a bad future and a catastrophic future. Our politicians should be making the hard choices to rapidly decarbonise our economies and move us towards the bad outcome, but they still haven't discovered a backbone. A rapid and radical decarbonisation will cause "impact on the landscape and loss of habitat", but at this point it's the least bad option.