Kingsthorpe
A F Beal - Conservative - Response awaited
S Beardsworth - Liberal Democrat - Response awaited
H Blackman - Labour - Response awaited
If elected what will you do to speed up the planning process to ensure the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action plan are given some urgency / priority?
What do you feel a professional football / sports team brings to a town / community?
What will you do to enact NBC’s policy of maintaining and helping professional league football in Northampton?
It is Labour’s clear policy to give league football every chance of success in Northampton. In this election we are putting forward policies that will give us a more prosperous and successful town after the wasted and failed years of a Tory led Council. Any successful town needs a successful league football club which has a secure future.
If elected on May 3rd our first priority would be given to establishing a strong working partnership with Northampton Town Football Club and its supporters. We would work with Cobblers in an open and honest way. It is a disgrace that the Conservatives along with the Liberal Democrat opposition have been unwilling to do this as they have kept the decision-making and planning process away from those most affected. We will change this negative approach by forming a partnership that would benefit all.
We fully recognise that the planning and development process can be complex. However, by the Council not showing stronger leadership, and at every turn attempting to divert the blame away from themselves, the process has not moved forward as it should have.
Labour is committed to providing strong and decisive leadership to accelerate the process. This commitment was demonstrated recently when I submitted a motion to full Council, with the approval of an officer from GOEM. If the motion had been debated and passed the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action Plan would have been given priority. The Conservatives along with the Liberal Democrats refused to debate let alone support our motion for reasons best know to themselves. If elected Labour will continue to pursue the terms of this motion.
For the Cobblers to have any chance of success then the local Council must give it every opportunity. The Labour Group on the Council have seen the Conservatives led by Tim Hadland hold the club back. When there did seem to be movement on this matter the Liberal Democrats decided at a critical time to call it in for further scrutiny. Indicating, in our view, a serious lack of commitment to the club and the citizens of Northampton.
Labour wants to see a successful league football club that can look forward and be confident that its future is secure. If Labour is elected we will work to achieve this.
R W Church - Liberal Democrat
If elected what will you do to speed up the planning process to ensure the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action Plan are given some urgency/priority
The Liberal Democrats will be giving the regeneration of our town a much higher priority than it has received up to now if we win the local elections. Our plans are detailed in our manifesto which can be read on our web site
www.northamptonlibdems.org.uk
We will look carefully to see if increasing the number of people working in the Planning Policy team would significantly improve the quality or speed of their work. However, much of the time taken in the overall process is for the government to check and validate NBC's plans so increasing staff might have limited effect.
We will have to ensure that the plans submitted are robust and high quality to ensure they are approved by government inspectors. Any rejection would add significant further delays and must be avoided.
Regardless of who is in control we will press for the Central and Sixfields Area Action Plans to be completed at the earliest possible opportunity and with no undue delay on the part of the Council.
We will not sign up to any empty or undeliverable promises that are designed to mislead or placate the Club or the fans and shall try to ensure that the Club and the fans are kept as fully informed as possible each and every step of the process.
What do you feel a professional football/ sports team brings to a town/ community?
Professional sport is very important. It provides a focus for local pride, a sense of identity and of community. If one or more of our professional teams is doing well it lifts the spirit of the town.Clubs and their supporters are ambassadors for our town. The reputation of Northampton is affected positively or negatively by their actions, particularly at away games.
Professional sport also attracts a significant number of visitors to our town with the consequential economic benefits.
What will you do to enact NBC’s policy of maintaining and helping professional league football in Northampton?
We will want to encourage any business that brings jobs, entertainment and other economic and social benefits to Northampton – including our professional sports clubs. We will work with the professional sports clubs to maximise the benefits of their community programmes and to realise the promotional benefits to the town and to the clubs of working together. We cannot and will not show favouritism to any club over other local businesses or landowners.
E Jones - Conservative - Response awaited
S Thomas - Labour - Response awaited
If elected what will you do to speed up the planning process to ensure the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action plan are given some urgency / priority?
What do you feel a professional football / sports team brings to a town / community?
What will you do to enact NBC’s policy of maintaining and helping professional league football in Northampton?
It is Labour’s clear policy to give league football every chance of success in Northampton. In this election we are putting forward policies that will give us a more prosperous and successful town after the wasted and failed years of a Tory led Council. Any successful town needs a successful league football club which has a secure future.
If elected on May 3rd our first priority would be given to establishing a strong working partnership with Northampton Town Football Club and its supporters. We would work with Cobblers in an open and honest way. It is a disgrace that the Conservatives along with the Liberal Democrat opposition have been unwilling to do this as they have kept the decision-making and planning process away from those most affected. We will change this negative approach by forming a partnership that would benefit all.
We fully recognise that the planning and development process can be complex. However, by the Council not showing stronger leadership, and at every turn attempting to divert the blame away from themselves, the process has not moved forward as it should have.
Labour is committed to providing strong and decisive leadership to accelerate the process. This commitment was demonstrated recently when I submitted a motion to full Council, with the approval of an officer from GOEM. If the motion had been debated and passed the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action Plan would have been given priority. The Conservatives along with the Liberal Democrats refused to debate let alone support our motion for reasons best know to themselves. If elected Labour will continue to pursue the terms of this motion.
For the Cobblers to have any chance of success then the local Council must give it every opportunity. The Labour Group on the Council have seen the Conservatives led by Tim Hadland hold the club back. When there did seem to be movement on this matter the Liberal Democrats decided at a critical time to call it in for further scrutiny. Indicating, in our view, a serious lack of commitment to the club and the citizens of Northampton.
Labour wants to see a successful league football club that can look forward and be confident that its future is secure. If Labour is elected we will work to achieve this.
P F Witherington - SOS
If elected what will you do to speed up the planning process to ensure the Central Area Action Plan and Sixfields Area Action Plan are given some urgency/priority
What do you feel a professional football/ sports team brings to a town/ community?
What will you do to enact NBC’s policy of maintaining and helping professional league football in Northampton?
I am in some difficulty in finding simple and straight forward answers to your questions. That is because the SOS campaign is primarily concerned with slowing or stopping the rate at which the town is expanding with particular reference to Dallington Grange. Hence we have not had any discussion about the issues you raise.
Within that there is the very much larger issue of integrity at both local and national levels. In that context it appears the Environment Agency will concur with flood risk assessments by consultants representing the developers, rather than complying with the statutory requirements to provide a 200 year flood plane map, and that the highway authority will concur with traffic impact studies that are too silly for words – e.g. the notion that halving the traffic can be achieved by calling a development "sustainable".
Separately from that and as a person rather than an SOS candidate – I believe taxes are far too high – amounting to nearly half the nation’s product. For example the marginal rate or tax for a standard rate taxpayer, a ft er allowing for National Insurance, is nearly 40%. Meanwhile local democracy has been eroded both by its internal corruption and by central Government. The latter has taken nearly all the power and passes endless detailed and costly legislation that is turning ordinary life into a nightmare while providing no moral or any other leadership whatsoever.
If elected we would do what we could to simplify the legislative framework within which organisations such as the Football League operate. We would also seek to have planning law simplified but with the proviso that the process must be transparent and honest. In that context I note that the Environmental impact statements for developments now run to up to 1,000 pages (so as to confuse the lot of us and bamboozle planning committees) when about 5 would do.
The use of taxpayer’s money for redevelopment schemes then becomes problematical in that it is tempting to say "we must do something" but, with taxes approaching half the nation’s wealth, we must cut back. If we go on as we are, enterprise will become a thing of the past. If that happened, and it is happening, then over time we will give up all our freedoms and economic growth will stagnate – as it did in communist regimes; leading to a general impoverishment of all of us.
To overcome that there needs to be a constitutional rule that prevents taxes rising above e.g. 25% of the nation’s annual product. That would lead to some financial realism in Whitehall and elsewhere. It would also limit amount that could be spent on the arts or sport – leaving those areas to stand or fall according to the income they can raise. Likewise, redevelopment schemes would have to be based on financial realism, e.g. raising money in the market place, rather than relying on the taxpayer. Any other approach will eventually beggar the lot of us
