Down Your Way, for Mon 31st October

The consultation on the future of our library service closed on 30th Sept, a report was produced, dated 30/09/11 barely enough time one would think to collate effectively all the information sent in, particularly as many comments were sent late on Friday the 30th. That report has now been approved by the County Council Cabinet, at the meeting held at Silverstone on 11th October. It makes one suspicious as to the purpose and validity of the consultation when only 1555 people took part ( County Council now say over 1600 took part) and answered loaded questions, then the report is produced in record time to be ratified by the County Council cabinet barely two weeks later. It makes you wonder whether the Council are confident in the results of their document? Further, to find any information about the consultation results you have to go to the Cabinet meeting agenda webpage, it was buried where no one would obviously find it. There is no link from the homepage of the Council website, for example, however you can read them on the SJRA website www.sjra.info . As expected the proposal was “nodded” through far from the majority of the enquiring public, whom found it difficult to get to such a hard to reach location. So much for transparency and democracy! Three members of the public (myself included) did address the Cabinet to object to the documents as did several councillors, although not all councillors were against the proposal.

Survey reveals councils' fears for vulnerable

Almost nine in ten councils have acknowledged that cutting their housing related support will put vulnerable people at risk, according to a survey.

A report from the Local Government Information Unit and housing association Circle surveyed 139 councils about their Supporting People services. 87.7 per cent of respondents said that reducing the availability of housing related support ‘will put vulnerable people at risk’.
Nine in ten respondents said that reducing the availability of housing related support ‘will create more costs elsewhere in the system’.
The ringfence on Supporting People was removed in 2009 by the then Labour government. In October’s spending review, chancellor George Osborne said the budget would be reduced by 11.5 per cent, to £6 billion until 2014/15.
Because there is no ringfence on the money, councils are free to raid it to support other services. More than half of the local authorities surveyed had cut their Supporting People budgets by more than 25 per cent.

Jack and the Beanstalk panto tickets now on sale

Tickets are now on sale for a fun-packed Jack and the Beanstalk panto showing at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery this Christmas.
Join Jack in his race to the top of the beanstalk in this traditional pantomime performed by the Looking Glass Theatre company.  Daisy the cow, Rapscallion the runner bean and the Giant will all be there, encouraging the children to join in the fun and sing-along in true panto style.
Jack and the Beanstalk will be showing at the museum at 10.30am and 1.30pm on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 December.   Tickets priced £3.50 for children and £5 for adults are available in advance from the museum shop or by calling 01604 838111.

Advertising Space On The SJRA Web Site

If you have a local business and you want to advertise your company why not think about letting us do it for you. The SJRA wish to help local businesses advertise their company for very competitive rates. To find out more why not drop us an email at stjamesra@phonecoop.coop or go to our web site http://www.sjra.info/.

Chair - SJRA

Free half term craft activities at Northampton museum

Abington Park Museum will be holding free drop-in arts and crafts workshops for children during October half term.
On Thursday 27 October children can take part in autumn inspired craft activities and on Friday 28 October there will be activities with an Ancient Egypt theme.  Sessions on both days run from 10am to 12pm and 1pm to 3pm.  Entry is free but there may be a small charge for some of the activities on offer.
For more information or details about other museum events call Northampton 838111.



Down Your Way, for Mon 24th October

The Doddridge Centre has applied to the NatWest bank’s Community Force award scheme for funding of £6,000 but the bank will not just be giving it away they need people to vote for the centre. If you have ever needed Doddridge Centre, they hope they can call on your support now.  They need your vote to win £6,000 so that they can offer a Community Force Resource, providing free meeting rooms and support to small, new, and unfunded groups.  If they win, the project will be funded by Nat West Community Force. 

In the current financial climate this type of project will be essential to groups at risk because of funding cuts. To vote for us:

Go to the Nat West web page or copy this link; http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4905, view our profile, tick the box next to “Accept terms and conditions” (if you do!), register by entering your email address and a password, Nat West will send you a verification email, VOTE !!!!

Please tell people about this, because if the bid is successful it will help a lot of people in the community. So get voting!

Reported Three Times!

This Garage has now been reported three times to the Borough Council. As of 15/10/11 it was still a fire hazard.

101 - The new number to call to contact your local police.

A NEW non-emergency number for Northamptonshire Police is being launched next week, providing county residents with a new way to get in touch about incidents and other enquiries that do not require an immediate response.

The 101 number comes into effect on Monday (October 17) as part of a national drive to make it easier to contact the police and report crime and disorder.