council

A collection of 54 posts

council

Council Watch May 2025 – End of Term Report

Four years ago, the first West Northamptonshire Council was elected – a unitary authority that replaced four predecessors: Daventry Borough Council, Northampton Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council and South Northamptonshire District Council. Lots of shoes to fill, and not an easy transition to make. There is now a new group of

opinion

popcawn April 2025

CA-WN is not a political group and The CA-WN Exchange is not a political platform. But CA-WN cannot stay silent at election time. Our elected representatives hold all the levers of power essential for delivering on CA-WN’s mission: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from West Northamptonshire and preparing

council

Council Watch April 2025 - new Climate Change and Tree Strategies

This article has been written by Sienna Mahoney, a Journalism student at the University of Northampton. West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) have published aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions in Northampton. In early 2022, the council committed to deliver net zero as an organisation by 2030 and for the wider area

council

Council watch - is the council falling out of love with roads?

My attention was caught recently by an article in the Chronicle & Echo headlined “Several major traffic mitigation schemes in West Northamptonshire scrapped from local transport plan”1. This interested me because I think the council should be spending money on active travel schemes and public transport rather than new

council Featured

Things Can Only Get Better

Wouldn’t it be great if things could only get better. But they won’t if we carry on with ‘Business as usual’. Our headline image is taken from a recent peer-reviewed publication relating air quality (AQ) to public health outcomes1. The left image represents 2019 estimates of PM2.5

council

WNC Climate Change Strategy Consultation

West Northamptonshire Council is currently consulting on its draft Climate Change Strategy - the consultation ends on 19 January 2025. CA-WN previously responded to an earlier consultation on the Strategy. Ours was one of just 101 responses, so every response really does make a difference! CA-WN was also invited to

transport

Northampton's Market Square Revitalised

Good news, the Market Square has now officially reopened in Northampton town centre, and with it a chance to promote the potential of pedestrianised spaces. There has been criticism as to the progress of this regeneration project, particularly in respect of the temporary relocation of the market stall holders to

nature

West Northants Council: Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Roy Hawkesford from Hackleton reports on a Webinar for parish councillors, organised by Ruth Rolls, WNC's Nature Recovery Strategy Officer (Environment, Countryside & Parks, Assets & Environment. The purpose of the meeting was to outline the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) which will go out for consultation soon1.

council

Council Watch September 2024

Climate Change Strategy Consultation It won’t surprise anyone that CA-WN is pleased to see West Northamptonshire Council consulting on a Climate Change Strategy. Obviously we’d have liked to see it sooner but nevertheless it is very welcome. This consultation is intended to influence development of the strategy – there

council

My View - Andrew Stevens

I first started reading about climate change perhaps 25 years ago1. At the time I was interested in environmental issues in general as well as politics, specifically inequality and how I thought politicians don't take a lot of notice of evidence on what works to improve the health,

council

Think Global. Act Local.

by Danny Moody, Chief Executive of the Northamptonshire County Association of Local Councils (Northants CALC), a membership organisation representing all the parish and town councils and parish meetings in Northamptonshire. Climate change is a pressing global issue that requires action at all levels, from international agreements to local initiatives. One

council

Council Watch July 2024

Items on the agenda1 for West Northamptonshire Council's July meeting pack included WNC’s Annual Report on how they are performing against their own targets. The ‘Green and Clean’ banner, like all elements of the WNC Corporate Plan, has a set of performance measures. The target shown for

council

New Local Plan for West Northamptonshire

West Northamptonshire Council is preparing a new Local Plan to guide the future development of our region. This post reveals how local planners made it possible to allow huge scale developments in the open countryside near Towcester. Harry Mellor – a resident of Easton Neston, the Parish next to Towcester – suggests

council

WNC Local Plan Consultation

West Northamptonshire Council has prepared a draft Local Plan, out for consultation until 2 June. ‘Local Plan’ is a fairly bland term which perhaps doesn’t convey how very important this document is in determining the future shape of our area and communities – in the case of this Plan until

meeting reports

CA-WN 18 April Meeting Report

This month we welcomed as our guest speaker WNC Councillor Jonathan Harris. Jonathan is a member of the council’s Sustainability Group and has represented the council at UK100 training workshops. He talked to us about the proposed Climate Strategy for West Northamptonshire Council, why it is necessary and how

council

Council Watch - March 2024

The workings of local democracy are alien to most people, and not easy to get to grips with. It is really important that local residents who want to engage with the process and hold their elected representatives to account get the opportunity to do so. Council meetings are one such

council

Council Watch March 2024 - LCWIP and Air Quality Public Consultations

Here at CA-WN we try to make a habit of both responding to relevant consultations issued by West Northamptonshire Council, and of sharing those responses with our audience. We did not respond to the recent consultations on Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for Daventry, Brackley and Towcester as

air

Air Quality Statement to WNC meeting, 22 February 2024

Dave Pearson, a leading Northamptonshire campaigner for clean air, gave a statement to West Northamptonshire Councillors at their Council Meeting. Read it in full below, or watch the recording of the WNC meeting on YouTube - Dave's statement starts 17 minutes in. It's also worth watching

opinion

My View – Phil Bignell

I am Ward Member for Long Buckby, a classic rural Ward, Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee at WNC and finally Chair of Bugbrooke Parish Council. In each of these roles I feel it gives me an opportunity to have some influence on Climate change. It is easy to think

transport

Roads to Nowhere

CA-WN's transport specialist uses a current local example to illustrate why public service development needs to keep in step with housing development. I came across this article in the Chronicle & Echo recently:  VIDEO: ‘Extremely unhappy’ villagers call for ‘road to nowhere’ in Northampton to be built urgentlyConstruction

council

WNC 2024/25 Draft Budget Consultation

West Northamptonshire Council’s annual budget is now out for public consultation, ending on 23 January (link below). It won't be the most fun you'll ever have in your life, but if you can find the time to respond please do. There's a transcript

council Featured

WNC Tree Strategy Consultation

West Northamptonshire Council have invited local people to share their ‘views on the development of our Tree Strategy’. The consultation opened on 29 November and closes on 1 January 2024, so we don’t have long to respond. There is a link to the consultation at the bottom of this

opinion

My View - Zoe Smith

CA-WN gives a Councillor the space to speak about climate action

council

Council Watch - December 2023

In November 2023 West Northamptonshire Council gave us something to celebrate. They approved two Climate Strategies – for Estate and for Construction & Maintenance. The strategies are detailed, thorough and set out comprehensive plans for reducing carbon emissions from WNC’s own land and buildings (‘estate’), land and buildings used for

council

Council Watch – 2023 Council Climate Action Scorecards

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but the idea is simple and very effective – objectively scoring climate action taken by local councils in the UK. It’s a huge piece of work undertaken using a well-thought out methodology, which is explained on the website of Climate Emergency UK,