What next For Northampton Borough Council.

Since being elected onto the Borough Council in May 2007 what have we achieved?

The Council was judged to be the worse run council under the previous Conservative administration. Since being elected two years ago the Lib. Dems. have appointed a new Chief Executive and he has reorganised the management team. The councils performance is now improving rapidly and we expect that the very close monitoring of the Council by the government will end soon. This is good news for for residents of Northampton.

Exiting things are beginning to happen in Northampton after many years of inaction. The Market Square is being revitalised with new stalls, better catering, places to sit, chat and enjoy a coffee and a programme of speciality markets and entertainment to attract people into our town centre. We want the market to be more successful and we want the Market Square to be a centre for activity in our town centre when the market traders have gone home each day.

Another piece of good news- a Marina will be built in the old boating lake in Becket's Park with moorinfgs for 82 boats. This will help to kick start better use of our river. The second phase of this project will see a cafeteria in the parkand, we hope, private investment to the south of the river. In a couple of years this will be a nice place to visit.

Lastly I must talk about a biggest project that is going to happen in Northampton- the expansion and refurbishment of the Grosvenor Centre. Legal & General(the owners of the Grosvenor Centre) and the Borough Council continue to work towards a Development Agreement despite the difficult economic situation at the moment. If successful, and I believe we will be, this will result in the largest single investment in Northampton ever. It is a long term project-it will take at least 10 years to complete-but is central to the re-generation of Northampton.

Improving Housing in Thorplands

Council houses in Thorplands could get up to £40 million investment after the Lib Dem run Borough Council agreed to bid for funds through a Government sponsored finance scheme. The Council has nearly 13,000 houses in the town and with current finances would be unable to bring them up to a decent standard without such a massive investment of funds.
The investment across the town could be as much as £170 million with most of it being spent on improving housing in the Eastern District.
“This is excellent news for Thorplands" said Dennis Meredith "After years of neglect by both Labour and the Conservatives it is the Lib Dems who have grasped the nettle improve the area. This money will see major improvements to Council housing in Thorplands and around the estate".
Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North Andrew Simpson also welcomed the move and said "It is the Lib Dems who are providing the leadership to bring our homes up into 21st century - we have had a disgraceful situation that is finally being put right”

Good Food

The Gallery Pub are now doing good meals at a very good price and a good pint, give it a try. I can recommend this pub to you it is very clean and tidy. On Mondays they hold Bingo night On Saturday night they have a Poker night all for the price of £10 which includes a meal.

Southfields

Good news for residents of Southfields I have set up a committee to look into ways of generating finance with the help of Peter Strachen of the Borough Council, to raise funds to improve the shopping centre.
The next meeting will be on the 17th November at the southfields community Centre at 6pm

Latest Focus newsletter

I hope you have enjoyed reading my latest Focus newsletter - I would welcome comments - you can see from the pictures that Cllr Andrew Simpson is prominent in this edition helping me to get things done for Thorplands, Goldings and Southfields and Overstone Lodge. I hope Andrew will be our next MP for Northampton North. I fully support Andrew he will make a brilliant MP - he will be closer to the people of Northampton.

Balloon Festival

Next weekend is the Northampton's annual balloon festival on the Racecourse park from 15th -17th August. Last year it rained most of the time - I am really hoping that this year the weather will give us a break and make it a great success. Please do your best to support this.