Kingsthorpe FOCUS

The Conservative County Council’s plan to hand over Unity School to an academy run by Mr David Ross is due to come to the County Council’s cabinet this month. With the council’s plans to transfer Weston Favell school to an academy collapsing in chaos with the government pulling the rug from the United Learning Trust, many questions now remain over the proposal to hand over Unity to the David Ross foundation.

Lib Dems will continue to make the point that academies are being imposed on Northampton schools by a Labour Government and a Conservative County Council without the support of the people who use the school. It is time our schools were given the support and the stability to do the job without constant meddling from outside.

Children and young people from the Kingsthorpe area of Northampton will soon be able to play to their hearts content on an exciting new adventure play area.

Work should begin on the play area in the new year and will be officially opened in the Spring with a community launch celebration day. Local residents who would like more information about the play area can contact Sara Kennedy at Northampton Borough Council on 01604 837073 or skennedy@northampton.gov.uk.

A government planning inspector has overturned the Borough Councils decision to refuse planning permission for the car wash that has been operating for some months in the car park at the Romany pub. This is surprising and disappointing. The car wash started without proper permission and has reduced parking spaces in the car park, as well as being an unsightly operation without proper facilities, including drainage.

Incorrectly and inconsiderately parked vehicles cause a significant number of problems on our roads and pavements, from traffic jams to serious accidents and obstructing the emergency services. People living in the Kingsthorpe area are very concerned about the problem, so the Kingsthorpe Neighbourhood Management group are working in partnership with Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire County Council to educate thoughtless drivers and to crack down on those people who persistently offend.

The targeted action will rotate around zones in Kingsthorpe every six weeks for a minimum of six months. Anybody who spots a vehicle that is inconsiderately parked in Kingsthorpe, Boughton Green or St David can help the partnership by reporting the location and vehicle by calling 03000 1133.

The state of the derelict Kingsthorpe Middle School building is a disgrace. Richard has complained to the Council about the state of the fence around it, it is far to easy for people to get in causing a danger to themselves and a nuisance to people living nearby.

The County Council have replied that they are seeking a contractor to demolish the old school and make the site safe. Together with a number of other school sites, the council do not expect to sell it for housing in the near future due to the reccession. They should not have left it in its current state for so long without making the site secure. 

A new sign on the village green depicting Kingsthorpe’s history has been formally unveiled by Sally Beardsworth. Two and a half years of planning, designing and creating the sign involved builders, blacksmiths, artists and stonemasons and the local community. Children from Kingsthorpe Primary school put together a time capsule encased in the sign.

The sign was funded by donations from the Kingsthorpe Manor and Town Trust and Sally Beardsworth’s ‘empowering councillors’ fund.

The County Council have new plans to ease traffic congestion on the Harborough Rd between the Cock Hotel and Welford Rd. Proposals include carriageway widening to allow easier traffic flow, more effective traffic signals and the re-positioning of pedestrian crossings. Congestion in this area has led to it being declared an air quality amangement area due to the pollution. Anything that can be done to improve the flow of traffic while also making better provision for pedestrians and cyclists will be welcome.

Have your say on the proposals at one of the public exhibitions atKingsthorpe Methodist Church. Friday Sept. 18th 11am-2pm, Saturday September 19th 11am-2pm and Thursday 24th September 4pm-7pm.

Heritage Open days this year are turning into a heritage open weekend with historic places all over Northampton open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11th-13th September.

In Kingsthorpe, there will be an exhibition on Thornton Park in the Community Centre in Mill Lane on Saturday and Sunday 12th & 13th September 2.30pm-4.30pm. Trinity Church, Balmoral Rd, one of last built by local architect Matthew Holding, will open Friday 2pm-4pm and Saturday 10am-6pm. St. John the Baptist, our ancient village church will open 2pm-5pm Friday, 10am-5pm saturday and noon- 6pm on Sunday.

Throughout Northampton, other building are open, with an antiques fair on the Market Square and a family history exhibition in the ex servicemen’s club in Sheep St. For more information visit the Northampton Heritage Open Days website. There is much more to see in Northampton than the town is ever given credit for!

Door to door glass collections for recycling are to be extended to all homes which do not have wheelie bins, but have black sack collections. This will include streets like Balmoral Rd, Stanhope Rd, Lincoln & Washington streets.

Earlier this year over 65,000 households in Northampton received new black glass recycling boxes and over 700 tones of glass was collected in just 2 months. Over the next couple of weeks new calendars and black boxes will be delivered to an additional 15,000 houses so even more people can join in with glass recycling from the kerbside. For these households the new collection will start week commencing Monday 21 September. Glass bottles and jars will be collected every four weeks, on the same day as the black sack collection.We want to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle and reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill. This will give every household the chance to have their used bottles and jars turned into new glass. The new recycling calendars and black boxes will be delivered in early September

A planning application has been received for a new 3 bedroom house at the rear of 56-58 High St. Kingsthorpe. This lies withing the Kingsthorpe Conservation Area, and the planning application can be viewed on the Council’s website. The application number is N/2009/666