Focus on Kingsley

The arrow sculpture on the Racecourse was formally ‘launched’ today at a little cremony in the park. The university students who designed it, together with members of Friends of the Racecourse and the Healthy Living Hub came together at the arrow to talk about the project and what it has acheived.

It has been controversial, but it is now good to see students using it as a seat and children playing on it. The sphere make useful information points about the park and what it has to offer. The Healthy Living Hub project now continues with the appointment of a part time project worker on a short term contract to take the masterplan forward and seek funding to implement key elements of the plan which have popular support. We hope to have more information about this soon.

Richard Church has requested that funds given to County Councillors to support local projects be spent on replacing roadside trees in Kingsley. The full list of sites where new trees are planted to be planted this winter is as follows:-
Hazeldene Rd. No’s. 144 & 148
Collingwood Rd. No 69
The Drive No’s 14, 20/22, 16
The Crescent No 8
St Matthews Parade Opposite No 30, 79/81
East Park Parade Opposite lamp column No.22
Kenmuir Avenue No.42
Kingsley Rd No. 19A
Milton St. North green space (3 trees)
Kettering Rd. corner of Raeburn Rd (3 trees)
Kenmuir Crescent traffic island
Kenmuir Avenue/Wallace Rd junction (2 trees)
Park Avenue North No’s 2, 30, 82, 90, 120, 162

There are many more sites which have been suggested, but either underground cables prevent new trees being planted or existing tree stumps need to be removed and the site left to rest before a new tree can be planted. We hope to return to some of those sites in future years.

Appropriate species for each site have been carefully selected depending on the nature of the site. Strong trees will be planted with good protection against vandalism.

Let us know if you would like more information.

I am honoured to have won the ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ competition when the results were announced on Saturday at the Local Democracy Week event at The Guildhall.

It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done as a Councillor and I have really learnt a lot.

The ‘I’m a Councillor Get me out of Here’ event started on 6th October and involved 6 Borough Councillors being available online to answer questions from local school children and young people. The Councillors all had a manifesto and there were three live chat sessions. The other Councillors who took part were: Jane Hollis, Ifty Choudary, David Palethorpe, Phil Larratt and Keith Davis. It was the first time Northampton has taken part in the event which was part of National Local Democracy week. Cllr Ifty Choudary came second.

I have now been declared as ‘Youth Champion for Northampton for 2008′

There were some really good ideas from the young people which I now want to see if we can progress. One simple one was to hold a regular online chat session for young people to raise matters with their councillors. I have already asked the council if this can be done.

Next year I hope we can build on this event and make it even more successful I would really recommend other councillors to get involved it really opens your eyes to what young people are thinking.

There is currently a vacancy for a school governor at Wallace Rd nursery school. School governors play a vital role in supporting schools, and are an excellent way to give something back to the local community. Contact me or Richard Church rchurch1@northampton.gov.uk if you would like to put your name forward.

We get many complaints, particularly from elderly people, about cycling on pavements. Many cyclists don’t know it is an offence to cycle on pavements and it is a serious danger for both cyclists and pedestrians.

Over the next few weeks, the police are running a campaign along the length of the Kettering Road, and you will soon see signs going up to warn cyclists. Offenders face a £30 fixed penalty charge for cycling on the pavement.

Police officers in Kingsley are to have a hand held speed gun. Complaints of speeding in residential streets continue to rise, so Richard Church has allocated a small portion of his County Council funds to buy a hend held speed gun that can be used to target motorists in residential streets who are a danger and a nuisance on the roads.

When the purchase is complete, the speed gun will be operated by the Kingsley and Parklands Police safer communities team. Let us know of a particular street where you think speeding is a problem.

Following complaints by residents and local Lib Dem councillors, the council have insisted that a caravan permanently parked on Romany Road has been removed. As well as causing a eyesore in the street, an electric cable was lying across the pavement, causing a potential hazard to pedestrians.

Following discussions between Trinity Avenue residents and the University the plans have been ammended. Wednesday’s planning committee broadly supported the new plans, but a further period of consultation is needed before the new plans can be determined.

The University have applied for planning permission for a large temporary potacabin on land at the back of the former Kingsley Park Middle School building. Residents in Trinity Avenue have expressed their concern that the building will be unsightly and damaging to trees and wildlife. The university will use the portacabin while they are expanding their Innovation Centre, but before the old school building (which is listed) has been converted for use. Other sites have been considered for the portacabin but rejected.

Plans can be viewed on the Borough Council’s website www.northampton.gov.uk . The reference number for the application is N/2008/0757. Let me know your views.

Richard Church, the County Councillor for Kingsley, is planning to spend a proportion of funds allocated to him for local community projects on replacing roadside trees in Kinglsey. Richard has put forward a list of locations where trees have been lost and the Council are looking at each site in turn before suggesting which sites should be a priority. Roads where there is space for new trees include Kettering Rd, Park Avenue North, Kenmuir Avenue, The Drive, The Crescent and Kingsley Rd. ‘Trees in local streets make our environment much more pleasant, sadly, too many roadside trees have been lost and not replaced’, said Richard.

Richard will be consulting local residents on the proposed locations. Meanwhile, is you know of any other sites where a tree could be planted, let us know.