SAVE OUR LIBRARY

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Leisure/Libraries/publib/Pages/Jameslib.aspx

Ideas Wanted

From: Chief Executive [mailto:ChiefExecutive2@northamptonshire.gov.uk]
Sent: 14 December 2010 15:40
To: Chief Executive
Subject: Northamptonshire County Council budget consultation
Dear colleague
We very much wish to invite your comments on the Council’s Draft Budget 2011-12 and Council Plan 2011-15. These were published today for a period of 8 weeks formal consultation.
It is vitally important that we hear from as many people as possible during this consultation period, as we all work together to find the best solutions. Details of this consultation, including proposals and a range of ways to take part, can be found on the Council’s dedicated web pages. Please encourage your local community to take part and to have their say:

http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/youchoose

Please let us have your views and ideas by 8th February, so that we can consider these fully and seriously. The Council Plan and Budget will be discussed at the Council meeting on 24th February 2011.

OOOOPPS

This is what the council thinks is a safe way to leave a damaged garage after 2 weeks

Another success thanks to Councillor Pam Varnsverry

FIFA or the NBC ?

Whats happened in 5 years ?

The Boxing day tsunami 2004,Obama was voted in as president of the USA,a new government in Britain,Zidane got sent off in the world cup final,Usain Bolt becomes fastest man ever,the list goes on ,but at last after 5 years of asking and Jimmys end gets flowers in the flower beds ........RESULT

Thanks Suresh...will other councillors follow suite?

Drain clearing at last

After a thursday black bag collection

St James school site ...good advert for Northampton in bloom

Thought of the Day

Has anybody ever seen the pavement gutters cleaaned in the last 20 odd years?

Blocked,Drains,and Rain equates to ...........

"to go the way of the Dodo"

blocked drains

So the NBC is cutting services meaning our streets are cleaned less,hence the drains getting blocked ,the NCC are not responding to requests to clean the drains ,where do we go from here ?

IMPORTANT NOTICE

To all residents of:
Abbey House, Melbourne House, Devonshire House, and residents living within the adjacent area of St. James.

This is your golden opportunity to meet with a member of NBC’s Housing Department, Trading Standards, Northant’s Police and Northampton Neighbourhood Watch.

This is your chance to discuss issues such as ‘Cold Calling’ ‘Doorstep Crime’ etc. Or any other issues you may wish to air. This has been arranged for you! to have your say about matters that cause you concern.

Just look out for the Mobile Police Station which will be parked in Abbey Street St. James,
on Thursday 21 October from 10am until 3pm.

Please don’t let this valuable opportunity be wasted.

SCAM ALERT

If anyone comes knocking at the door trying to sell you 1/2 price credits on your electricity tell them to politely go away

Support a Great National Charity

and join us for afternoon tea, coffee and cakes in The Community Room 2.00pm - 3.30pm.
Friday 24th September
Everybody welcome!
St. James CEVA Primary School
Harlestone Road
Northampton
NN5 7AG
01604 751475
Refreshments are free. Cake donations very welcome.
Any donations to this worthwhile charity will be gratefully received.st coffee morning.all inaid of the McMiillan

Get Healthy in Jimmy's End

Training Courses for Northampton Borough Council Tenants

Northampton Borough Council is running free courses for Northampton Borough Council Tenants and leaseholders




Schedule of remaining courses
24th August 2010 : Equality and Diversity for Tenants
2nd September 2010 : How Local Government works
6th September 2010 : Managing Your Money
10th September 2010 : Job finding skills

St James in bloom "perhaps"

Northampton is going for the award for the flowers in bloom ,pity St James has been missed out.
Also St James seems to missed out on the "Pride of Northampton" lions,guess they couldn't get further than the railway station.

SJRA Success

The SJRA are proud to announce that the yellow box junction has been put in place at the top of Greenwood rd/Spencer Bridge rd ,this was achieved after many months of negotiations with the appropriate bodies with help from Councillor Suresh Patel.

Northampton Review – St. James Ward Objection

Dear Sir/Madam,
In reference to the Northampton Review and in particular the proposals put forward by the Northampton Borough Council for St.James Ward, we would like to draw your attention to and object in part to the proposal for St.James Ward.

Firstly, it would seem appropriate to say which parts of the Review we would agree with. We welcome the proposal to bring the present Castle Ward sector of St.James into the ward and we also welcome the proposal to remove Briar Hill from the ward. These would seem to be common sense suggestions based on the recommendation to “provide good electoral equality and a clear warding pattern using man-made and natural boundaries. The Council’s
proposals were also supported by evidence of community identity,” to quote the Council; submission.

Part of the proposal includes moving a large section of housing from below Bants Lane into the “Old Duston Ward”, this includes Malcolm Drive and Lyncrest Avenue areas, which may make sense, given their location. This move, however also includes moving Abbots Way, Peverel’s Way and the adjoining dwellings on Weedon Road into the new ward, some 95 houses, which makes no sense, as it goes against the Commission’s recommendation and the Council’s proposal.

We wish to object to the 95 houses being moved into the “Old Duston Ward”. The committee of this association has discussed at length the proposal and residents’ concerns, and as a consequence feel that, based on the principle that any decision taken must give consideration to “clear warding pattern using man-made and natural boundaries and evidence of community identity,” these 95 houses have been wrongly included in the proposal.

This “square” of 95 houses at present form a natural part of St.James area and ward, because they are separated from the rest of the proposed new ward by the natural boundary of the extremely busy Weedon Road. The nearest facilities to the affected area are half a mile away, which includes the community centre, Post Office, banks, shops, hairdressers etc, all part of the busy St.James Square: the hub of the community, not to mention the shops and facilites in between. All of these fall within the existing and proposed new St.James Ward. The nearest community facilites in the proposed new ward will be well over a mile away across and through several busy main roads: not very convenient at all!

We also feel that commmunity Policing will be comprimised severely, should the proposal go ahead. At present the “95” are well served by the St.James Safer Community Team, whom regularly patrol the area and know intrinsicly any problems that affect these streets; the Community Support Officers are on first name terms with many residents and this relationship has taken a long while to nuture. If these 95 houses are moved “across the road” to the new ward we will be policed by another Safer Community Team who will have no knowledge of the area or the needs of local residents, and we suggest will frequently be too busy in the large new ward to cross the natural boundary of Weedon Road to visit the these streets.

The busy Weedon Road forms a natural line or as we fear, a barrier between areas and this will prove to be a barrier to effective communication between Police, residents and Councillors alike.

We also fear that by the nature of the new proposal (the 95 houses will be surrounded on three sides by St. James Ward), people and offical bodies will automatically assume that these houses must form part of the St.James Ward because of their location –stuck out like a pimple on the boundary of the new ward! Who will venture across the main road to find out?

The 95 houses of Abbots way, Peverel’s way and Weedon Road have long campained to be recognised and have their concerns taken seriously in all matters, which with the help of an active residents association and concientious residents is finaly happening, but within the their natural community of St.James and St.James Ward, represented very well by the existing three Councillors.

These houses have nothing whatsoever to do with Duston or Old Duston or their wards and have little in common in terms of problems that affect them. Furthermore these houses are actually built on the site of the grounds of the 15th Century St. James Abbey as any ordance survey/land registery map will show.

The Boundary Commission says that; “Where we have moved away from the Council’s
proposals, we have sought to use clearer ward boundaries that will result in good
communication across each ward”. As evidenced by the previous points, this is obviously not the case here and we urge the commision to rectify the matter as on the present layout “communication across the boundary” will be hampered due to the design of the ward.

One other area affected by the proposal is “The Avenue” off Harlestone Road, which is also proposed to be moved into Spencer Ward, again this also does not follow natural boundaries or communities and the areas have very little in common with each other. However, we have not been able, due to constraints on time and resources, to canvass the residents affected. We have though, been able to canvass the 95 households affected by the above proposals, as follows:-
We knocked every door of the 95 houses;
Out of those, 70 were at home and were asked if they had a preference as to staying in St.James Ward or would rather be in the new ward;
95 people from the 70 households wished to remain in St.James Ward, which reflects a total of 97% of respondents;
All of the 97% wished to sign a petition based on the thoughts above;
3 people or 3% did not wish to sign on the basis that they did not understand the proposal.

This survey/petition is very convincing and reflects what the residents actually want to happen and further we feel it must have some bearing on any decision taken by the Review Officer.

To summarise, the proposal to include the “95” goes against the council’s recommendation in so much as it does not reflect natural boundaries and communities; it also threatens to undermine local identity, relationships and community partnerships that have taken several years, and in the case of local identity – generations to develop. Whilst we appreciate the Review Officer’s duty to develop ward boundaries that may be appropriate demographically, the grass roots needs of the communities must be given greater consideration if not priority, in this case, over the former. The grass roots opinion reflected by the majority of households objects to the proposal, as recorded in the attached petition.

Finally, it may seem to be late in the day for an objection or proposal to be put forward to the
commission and one may wonder why we did not take part in the Borough Council Committee Review, it is quite simple: this association was not invited to take part. At no stage have we been contacted by the Borough Council for our views on this important matter. The only reason we know about it is through informal discussion and mentions by residents and casual visits to the council website; as such we feel the Borough Council has failed to collect a meaningful sample of opinion from the people affected most by the proposal.

We hope a common sense decision will be taken in the Review and look forward to hearing from you as a matter of course.
Yours sincerely,

John Connolly (Chair) and Graham Croucher (Secretary),
on behalf of St. James Residents Association and the “95” houses of Abbots Way, Peverel’s Way and the adjoining Weedon Road.

PARKING PERMIT SCHEME

Many residents in the area should by now have received correspondence from the County Council parking division asking residents if they wish to be included in a residents parking scheme. As previously mentioned we are told that it is proposed to implement any possible scheme on a zone basis instead of a street basis which could have major re-percussions for residents who are opposed to any scheme. In relation to the areas that suffer on match days, pitching it at £25 or "only 48p a day" is a bit shady for several reasons -

the actual cost is more like £65

The County Council also neglect to mention that once you have got one of these schemes, you can never get rid of it- there is no option to scrap it.

Cultural Walkway

Just a few shots of the cultural walkway between footmeadow and Victoria park,this is an ongoing project.

PARKING PERMIT SCHEME

“Very shortly, most residents in St. James (if you have not already) will be getting a letter from the County Council explaining options for residents.

Basically, there are three options;

1. If you are not already in a permit parking scheme you have the option of joining one,

2. Extra street junction protection in the form of yellow linage,

3. stay as you are.

Areas are split into zones and we are told the decision to implement a scheme is to be taken on a zone by zone basis not a street by street basis. I.e. if the majority (more than 50%) of residents in the zone want a permit scheme then one will be implemented on the basis of the one that already operates in the Scottish Streets. Although residents in this scheme are being written to regarding “tweaks” to the scheme, hopefully the suggested improvements! So if you do not think a scheme would work well in your street it is important you talk to your neighbours and urge them to reply asap! Remember, a parking permit does not guarantee you a space outside your property and you will have to pay for the permit itself, currently £25.00, but it is sure to increase next year. So, the whole of St. James could be a permit scheme area some time in the future, probably next year if the majority wants it! It’s up to you now, time to decide. The SJRA has made further recommendations such as parking restrictions in certain areas instead of a permit scheme, where it is felt this would be more beneficial, such as Park road and surrounding streets. Whatever your preference, make sure you return your form.

Enquiries should be directed to Nilesh Patel, Parking Manager, NOT the SJRA. Nilesh can be contacted on 01604 235653 fax: 01604 631028 mobile: 07738144223 e-mail: nipatel@northamptonshire.gov.uk

Or contact Councillor Suresh Patel on 07884166657 e-mail: supatel@northamptonshire.gov.uk

The SJRA does not necessarily recommend or endorse any particular scheme, the decision will be entirely the residents.”

Latest Police Priorities

Castle Ward
1,Tackling street prostitution in Spring Boroughs
2.Anti-Social Behaviour around Victoria Park and Ambush Street
3.Drug dealing in Castle Ward

St James Ward
1.Tackling theft from vehicles across the Safer Community Team area
2.Inconsiderate parking on match days
3.Cold calling in person at Abbey House, Devonshire and Melbourne House

Free !!!! Home Fire Safety Checks

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service are working hard to make people safer in their homes by offering free Home Fire Safety Checks. They involve visiting a person’s home (by appointment), to give advice and guidance on how to prevent fire and other hazards. We will also fit smoke alarms if they are needed and check any smoke alarms residents already have. Here is some further information our Home Fire Safety Checks on the NCC website.
Here is the link to our website http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/fire/pages/default.aspx

The contact details for anyone wishing to have a Home Fire Safety Check is: -

Free phone telephone number: 0800 38 999 50.

Text 07797 800760

Email: safetycheck@northantsfire.org.uk

ATTENTION !!!!

Isn't this typical council planning?

Dear Resident/Leaseholder
CORDWAINER / STITCHMAN HOUSES - ROOF REFURBISHMENT WORKS
As you are aware, works are currently in progress to refurbish the complete roof area in the blocks of flats in which you reside.
However, the recent snow and cold weather has resulted in an unforeseen delay in completing the work. In order to get the works finished as quickly as possible, the Borough Council has given permission for the Contractor, Oakleaf Roofing, to work on Saturdays between 8.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m
The work to be carried out is of a very low noise level and you should not experience any intrusion into your leisure time.
May I take this opportunity of thanking you for your cooperation and patience in working with the Council in raising the standard of its Housing stock.
If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Paul Williams, Project Officer, on (01604)838822 or housingcustomerservices@northampton.gov.uk
Yours sincerely

Andrew Treweek
Asset Strategy Manager

Latest Policing Priorities

Castle Ward

Your current locally agreed policing priorities are:

February 2010

1,Tackling street prostitution in Spring Boroughs
2,Anti-Social Behaviour around Victoria Park and Ambush Street
3,Drug dealing in Castle Ward

The St James Residents' Association AGM

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
7pm Thursday
14th JANUARY 2010
Tomalin Room
Doddridge Centre
109 St James Road
Northampton NN5 5LD


For workers as well as residents of St James
Come one,come all,and express your opinion