The old St. James School site is the subject of a planning application N/2011/0504. The plan is to leave the one hall type building that fronts on to St. James Road for some sort of community use and demolish all the buildings behind and replace them with 14 houses with access from Greenwood Road. The houses will be in a traditional style that complements the existing area. The plans can be viewed online at www.northampton.gov.uk or at the Guildhall. The residents association are watching with interest and are looking to make some alterations to the plan and are keen to hear from concerns from residents. The residents association will be objecting to the application. They feel that the school site is a valuable building in terms the history of St. James and is part of the fabric of the area, as such it needs to be preserved with perhaps conversion to residential use or small niche businesses. To many historic buildings have been lost in the town and St. James already. The developers claim that they can find no historic link between the Church and the school, despite the obvious facts that it was a church school, the land was owned, until recently by the diocese and countless children walked across the playground directly into the church, myself included! Residents are urged to write to the planning office at the Guildhall to object the plan to demolish the buildings.
The planning application to convert the former Castle Pub in to flats, restaurant and takeaway have been withdrawn by the developer after advice from the planning officer. This follows pressure from local residents and Councillor Terry Wire. Residents have voiced concerns about traffic nuisance and parking, amongst other issues.
An objection will also be lodged against the proposed development (N/201/0399) of the current Fyna vehicle hire site on Weedon Road. The plan for 5 4-bed houses and 9 2-bed flats, again does nothing to address the serious traffic and parking issues in that area, particularly in Abbey Street where parking is a serious problem, particularly on match days and some people are refusing to pay for a parking permit. This is one of three housing developments planned for the area, the other, in addition to the school plan, is on Spencer Street (N/2011/0465). The application is for 24 flats on the site of the former derelict factory there. 24 parking spaces will be provided as well as mobility dwellings and looks to be a quality development. Most residents will probably be pleased that this eyesore is finally being developed as squatters had previously been a problem and numerous fires had been started. An interesting and concerning issue surrounding planning applications is that all of the above can be decided o delegated planning powers meaning the planning officers can decide if they go ahead or not. This is a worry on big developments of importance like the school or small but nonetheless problematic ones like the Castle pub. The SJRA has voiced its concerns to Councillor Wire over this and think that a planning committee should decide.
Advisors from Options 2 who is a Next Step provider and able to offer employment and training advice will be coming out to St James Library each Wednesday between 4-6 to give advice and support to jobseekers. An appointment system is in place to take up the time slots so bookings have to be made through the library. This service will be continuing into the autumn.
The Friends of the Library group is still looking for new members who are interested in protecting their Library for present and future generations. Contact them through the details below if you want to help out. The Library needs regular users if it is to survive and a Friends group can actively promote the Library. The Library service will shortly commence a public consultation on their plans as part of the comprehensive review of the whole Library service. Concern is being expressed that nothing has changed and all that will happen is that if no money can be found to contribute to the costs or volunteers cannot be sought to help out then the Library will close anyway! Spread the word, talk to friends, family and neighbours and get down to your Library. Just because you may not use it, others do and it is their lifeline.
The next “estate walkabout” will be on 4th July, where the local housing officer will be walking the area to see what problems council tenants are experiencing. Committee members from the SJRA will be accompanying him and tenants are invited to inform the officer of any issues as he walks round their particular area.
Councillor Patel informs us that he has requested a list of street lights that are earmarked for switching of in the County Councils plans to save money. Early indications are that the end of August is a likely time for any changes, however residential areas are unlikely to be affected first. The Councillor also informs us that he has requested work to take place in several roads in the area that need maintenance.
Councillor Wire has been busy since his election dealing with residents issues as well as dealing with more general items. At long last the pathways outside Cordwainer House, which have been pushed up by tree roots, may be getting repaired. This dangerous, and unacceptable situation has gone on for too long. Bizarrely, the trees were chopped down but the serious tripping hazards remained. Councillor wire has requested urgent action.
The Community Centre on St. James Square has been added to the councils list of centre’s that it wants groups to take over and run. Several groups and organisations have shown an interest so far and the Doddridge centre is one of them in partnership with the SJRA to form the committee. It is vital to again preserve this facility for the whole community to use, as opposed to one self interest group, and this is one way of doing it. The application is still being formulated and will take some time as the forms are rather and unnecessarily complicated.
The Friends of St. James Primary School, on Harlestone Road, have their Summer Fete on Friday 1st July from 3.15pm – 5.00pm. There will be stalls, games, prizes, Barbecue, Karaoke, Ice creams, Tombola, refreshments, Tuck shop (remember them?!) and much more! All are welcome to come along and join in the fun.
More Summer fun is to be had at St. James Church on Saturday 2nd July; The Church also has its Summer Fete where stalls, games, Barbecue, craft, plants, tombola and much more are all available. In addition the church is holding a sponsored read of the King James bible, from cover to cover! It is the 400th anniversary of the King James bible this year and this event commemorates that momentous event. The reading starts at 8.00pm Friday 1st of June and runs until sometime on the Saturday! For more information, telephone 01604 751164 or e-mail phillipn@btopenworld.com .
The residents Association are always welcoming of new committee members and encourage interest from all walks of life. They have a comprehensive equal opportunities policy in place, so if you want to be involved contact us by the details below. In addition, we are seeking a minute taker for our meetings. The ability to use word processing software and e-mail would be very useful, so if you can spare a couple of hours every six weeks or so, again let us know!
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