Monday brief: Inspectors say ‘real progress’ at former ‘concerning’ prison
Apologies that our Friday brief didn't make it to your inbox last week. Here's a Monday brief as a replacement.
In a slight change to the usual publishing dates, we’re publishing today on a Monday, as we were unable to send out Friday’s dispatch.
Things may be a little haphazard for the rest of this month, due to the summer holidays but we will be back on our usual timetable in September.
Inspectors have found a Northamptonshire prison which had “concerning” outcomes has “made real progress” since its last inspection two years ago.
The report into Wellingborough’s HMP Five Wells was carried out by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMIP) in May 2026, with a report into the findings published today (Monday, August 17). This is the prison’s second full inspection since it opened in February 2022 on the site of the former HMP Wellingborough.
It found that outcomes for prisoners had improved in three out of four areas, with the day-to-day stability and staff-prisoner relationships progressing well, but noted “serious concerns” such as high self-harm rate, unacceptable wait times for healthcare still persisted and insufficient work to prepare men for release..
A prison spokesperson said they were proud the inspectorate had described it as “calm and well ordered” and that it was working on areas highlighted for improvement.
The category C adult male resettlement prison held 1,742 prisoners at the time of the inspection, with approximately 57 per cent serving a sentence for sexual offences.
HMIP said more prisoners were now engaged in purposeful activity, and leaders had taken steps to improve the oversight of education, skills and work. The rate of violence between prisoners in the last year had halved compared to the year before and the rate of positive random mandatory drug tests dropped from an average of 30 per cent at the last inspection to 17 per cent.
However, inspectors said more work was needed to tackle high self-harm rates, with too little being done to understand the causes and no psychology support or counselling for those experiencing emotional distress. It explained that the rate of self-harm was reducing, but remained high compared to similar prisons with 931 self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners recorded in the 12 months to March 2026.
Prisoners still also faced unacceptable waits to see a GP or dentist and issues around insufficient education, skills and work spaces for the population difficulty completing sentence plan targets were raised.
Concerns were also raised around overcrowding beginning in the prison, with some cells designed for one prisoner now holding two – described as “very cramped”. The overall prison capacity has increased by 82 spaces since the 2024 inspection and around 193 new prisoners a month arrived and an average of 150 a month were released into the community.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, wrote:
“Five Wells has come some way since its turbulent early period. The experienced director and his team have succeeded in stabilising the prison and creating a more positive and ordered environment.
“They now need a sharper focus on reducing self-harm, improving access to health care, and, crucially, strengthening the systems that support progression and resettlement.”
A HMP Five Wells spokesperson said:
“We are proud of our staff and prisoners who have established a prison that the inspectorate describes as calm and well ordered – and where interactions between the two groups were observed as excellent.
“We are also working on the areas that were highlighted for improvement. For example, to further reduce self-harm incidents we will continue to develop both our active listener and peer-to-peer support schemes, and make better use of data to identify root causes.”
By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Other news
A man in his 30s, was stabbed in the early hours of Sunday morning on a Northampton road.
The attack happened in Wellingborough Road at around 3.50am, in the area of of Bar Serengeti, Portland Place and King Kebab.
Northants Police say they would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and may have footage on dashcam.
The man’s injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
Anyone with information can call Northants Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
The North unitary council was ordered by the government watchdog to pay out more than £30,000 last year to compensate residents who complained about service failures to the local government watchdog.
The number of complaints about North Northamptonshire Council services made to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) rose again in 2025/26, with education and children’s services grievances remaining at the top of the list.
The ombudsman is a national body that investigates complaints made against councils when they are escalated beyond the authority’s internal complaints handling. It covers a range of areas, including adult social care, housing and planning decisions.
In total, the council received 150 complaints in 2025/26, compared to 119 the previous year. Of these, 25 (16 per cent) were upheld by the LGSCO, which is in line with levels in previous years.
The council report shows that the majority of cases decided in the last financial year originated from complaints first raised in 2023 and 2024, with some dating back to 2021. In most cases investigated that are upheld, recommendations will also be issued which may include a financial remedy.
In total, NNC was ordered to pay out £34,405 to complainants to remedy its faults, which is around £10k less than that paid out in 2024/25.
More than half of complaints upheld by the ombudsman were in education and children’s services, mainly relating to faults in special educational needs provision. The rest were made up of adult care services, benefits and tax, environmental services, planning and housing.
The largest single payment made in the year was £9,250, over a failure to provide a child alternative provision for almost two years.
Though NNC reported complying with all recommendations made by the watchdog, timeliness on compliancy remains a concern with just 11 out of 17 outcomes completed on time.
A report on the council’s overall ombudsman performance will go to the authority’s audit and governance committee tonight.
By Nadia Lincoln
West Northamptonshire Council has officially appointed a new chief finance officer to replace Martin Henrys, who has taken on the chief executive job.
Both James Smith and Martin Henrys were confirmed in their new roles at the full counci meeting on Thursday evening. Mr Smith has been deputy finance officer since 2021 and before that worked at the former county council.
The North unitary Reform administration has announced that it will look into alternative options for the future of the Corby crèche, after backing plans to bring its leisure services back in-house and setting out plans to close the service as a result.
At a meeting on Tuesday (August 11), the North Northamptonshire Council’s executive unanimously backed plans to bring leisure services back under direct council management, giving the authority greater control over facilities, investment and services for residents across the area.
The decision will see outsourced leisure facilities across the area transferred to the council as existing contracts come to an end, beginning from April 2027. The move will see all facilities come under NNLeisure, which currently operates solely in Corby, and the introduction of a fixed-price membership fee, new concessions, and universal access to any centre.
However, concerns were raised during the meeting about the proposed closure of the Corby crèche, which was highlighted as a ‘consequence’ of bringing the additional facilities in-house within existing budgets, and the impact it could have on families.
Councillors and members of the public asked NNC to delay the decision on its closure and look into alternatives and ways the service could stay in place. Executive members said at the time that they would be “receptive” to listening to ideas for the service and that a staff consultation still has to take place around its closure.
Now, a Reform group spokesman has moved to clarify concerns raised about the future of the facility at Corby Pool and said that there will be an opportunity to consider how the space could be used in future; including whether there is potential for an alternative provider to operate a crèche from the facility.
It was explained during the meeting that the crèche is currently under-utilised, leading to a challenging financial position with the council subsidising £49,000 each year to cover the cost of the provision.
The council said it had previously sought to increase awareness and usage of the crèche, but that demand for the service continues to fall. The Reform group therefore said that any future arrangements will need to be “realistic about both demand and financial sustainability”.
In a statement to the press, executive member for housing, health and leisure, Cllr Brian Benneyworth said:
“Today’s decision is fundamentally about creating a better and more consistent leisure service for the whole of North Northamptonshire and bringing that service back under the direct control of the council.
“We completely understand why people care passionately about facilities they use and value, and we listened carefully to the representations made at executive.
“But it is equally important that people understand what has and has not been decided. There is considerable work to do before these changes take effect in 2027. And where there are realistic and financially sustainable alternatives for services such as the Corby Pool crèche, of course we should be prepared to explore them.
“Bringing these facilities back in-house actually gives the Council greater control over these decisions and greater flexibility to shape services around the needs of our residents.”
He also clarified that no decision had been taken on the future of Corn Market Hall and that options including community use, council use, or commercial letting will be taken separately in the future.
By Nadia Lincoln
A councillor has raised concerns over a new late-night alcohol licence being approved for a rooftop bar in Northampton, after the council confirmed that her objection was “missed”.
Dallington Spencer councillor Sally Keeble called on West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to undertake an “urgent inquiry” into the granting of a licence to Kaja Lounge (also called Kaya Lounge) in Harlestone Road.
WNC’s licensing panel met in July to discuss the application, and granted permission to the venue to sell alcohol from midday until 2am every day, alongside live and recorded music, late-night refreshments, and opening hours until 2.30am.
Cllr Keeble asked WNC for a full investigation after she found that an objection she submitted to the application – which raised concerns about the adequacy of fire escapes, the appropriateness of late-night hours in a residential area, and existing drug-related activity in the area – was lost and did not form part of the committee’s consideration.
A council spokesperson said that an objection relating to the application was missed due to an IT error, which was believed to be an isolated incident following an investigation. It added that it received a number of other objections with similar points which were “fully explored”.
Cllr Keeble told the LDRS:
“I think that this is a seriously problematic premises and I think there will be issues around it.
“My biggest concern is that this is obviously a venue with difficulties because it’s a rooftop bar for 250 people with quite narrow entrances and exits in a very difficult area of the Dallington Spencer ward. I don’t think all of those factors have been taken into consideration.
“I think the procedure needs to be investigated and the application could merit with being reviewed. If this kind of incompetence passes for the norm, there is no chance of the proper discharge by the council of its quasi-judicial duties.”
According to the licensing report, three objections were received from members of the public which highlighted issues around potential public nuisance and noise disruption, a risk of overcrowding within the venue, concerns with the exits, and an increase in crime and disorder.
A representative for the rooftop bar previously told the licensing hearing that the venue would have robust operating controls, a noise management plan, and would look to work directly with councils’ environmental protection teams before any external late-night entertainment is put on past 11pm.
In response, a spokesperson for West Northamptonshire Council said:
“An objection relating to this licensing application was regrettably missed due to an IT system error and we have apologised to the councillor and explained what happened.
“Following an investigation, we believe this was an isolated incident and would like to reassure local residents they can continue to view licence applications via the Licensing Public Register on our website and continue to raise representations via email to licensing@westnorthants.gov.uk
“The licensing application received a number of other objections with similar points to those made in the councillor’s objection and the committee fully explored and considered all these issues.
“There were no objections from the fire service, and the council’s environmental health officers set out a series of conditions that needed to be met and approved for the licence.”
By Nadia Lincoln