Report of Councillor Adam Brown Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture & Leisure 21st March 2024

HOUSING

The West Northamptonshire Council Housing Allocations Policy was approved by Cabinet in November 2023, and work is now underway to implement the scheme. This Policy replaces the three legacy Council allocations policies, to provide one single scheme across West Northamptonshire, which will provide a fairer, clearer, and more consistent approach.

To implement this single scheme, the housing allocation function will be completed in full by the Housing Solutions team in the Communities and Opportunities Directorate. This will replace the current approach; whereby Northamptonshire Partnership Homes manage Northampton’s Allocations Policy, and Housing Solutions operate the South Northamptonshire and Daventry Allocations Policies.
In order to successfully implement this Scheme, online applications have been temporarily paused for new applications from Monday 19th February until Monday 8th April. Homes will be allocated to existing applicants who are already on the register during this time. The new scheme will apply from 1st April 2024.

The Council continues to work in partnership with its ALMO, Northamptonshire Partnership Homes, ensuring all landlord related services are delivered at a high standard ahead of the implementation of significant reform in social housing regulation. NPH are also supporting the Council in tackling other key challenges, including temporary accommodation and the implementation of a single housing allocations scheme.

The West Northamptonshire Council Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2024-2027 has been drafted and was approved by cabinet in on 12th March. This Strategy has been co-designed with a range of partners and is framed around 4 themes; improving collaboration and partnership working; early intervention and prevention of homelessness; more suitable and affordable housing; and reducing rough sleeping. A delivery plan supporting the Strategy will be produced in collaboration with partners and presented to Cabinet in May 2024.

Following the formation of the Communities and Opportunities Directorate on 1st April 2022, work is underway to ensure that the structures and operating models of each of the four services within the directorate enable efficient and effective service delivery. The proposals for the Housing Solutions restructure have been considered by staff and steps are being taken to implement the new structure and operating model. The Private Sector Housing team and Community Safety, Community Engagement and Resettlement Teams have embarked on the initial stage of their proposals.

The Private Sector Housing Team continue to provide financial support to residents to undertake adaptations to their properties to ensure they remain suitable in cases of cases of disability. The disabled facilities grant programme has so far this financial year supported improvements across West Northamptonshire of over £2m. Information regarding the work and access to funding is available on the Council website, or the Council’s Customer Services Team.

The Council continues to work in partnership with its ALMO, Northamptonshire Partnership Homes, ensuring all landlord related services are delivered at a high standard ahead of the implementation of significant reform in social housing regulation. NPH are also supporting the Council in tackling other key challenges, including temporary accommodation and the implementation of a single housing allocations scheme.

Work on exploring modular housing options continues apace, with the Housing team and I visiting Milton Keynes to look at an innovative temporary accommodation project delivered by MK City Council. The team and I spoke with officers and a resident at the site and will incorporate our findings into the ongoing workstream.

CULTURE & LEISURE

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

West Northamptonshire Council is working in partnership with Northampton Saints as host area and host venue for Pool Stage matches of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

The tournament is set to take place between 22 August and 27 September 2025 and West Northants will host three weekends of matches at Cinch Stadium Franklins Gardens.

Tournament planning has already started with the Host Steering Group meeting for the first time on 29th February. The Steering Group will provide oversight of local tournament planning, supported by World Rugby and their assigned Local Operating Company. A number of tournament planning working groups have been set up to cover all aspects of tournament planning from venue operations through to marketing and branding to fan experience and the RFU’s Impact Programme which aims to increase the number of women and girls playing, volunteering and coaching.

Pre-tournament engagement has already started. Sixth form students from Northgate Academy in Northampton have partnered with Northampton Film Festival to produce an online trailer promoting the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Around 20 young people are took part in the project, overseeing every stage of creation, from planning and story boarding to filming and creative direction, with a number of sessions taking place at the Bee Hive in Northampton. The final trailer will be premiered during the Northampton Film Festival at Cineworld in March. A Screening for WNC staff will be held on Wednesday 20th March on the large Atrium screen.

British Cycling Partnership

West Northamptonshire Council’s two-year partnership with British Cycling is into it’s sixth month, funded through UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The partnership aligns to cycling’s National Governing Body priorities ‘working together’, ‘grow communities (and disciplines)’, ‘equipped for success’.

Highlights to date include supporting local bike libraries, increasing he number of schools delivering the Bikeability scheme, piloting bike bus initiatives to reduce traffic around schools. The partnership has connected a Northampton disability group with British Cycling’s national Limitless programme which aims to break down barriers to cycling and make improve accessibility. A Go-Ride club has been set up at the Northampton Bike Park and achieved affiliation with British Cycling. The club will access volunteer coaching courses to then roll out coaching and grow the clubs membership.

Choirfest

All planning for this event is on track. Pop up events are going well. The recent events included All Saints Church, Pitsford, 24th Feb which was well attended by locals and choir members, with photography captured of the event. The ChoirFest Singing Taster Session, Northampton Central Library, held on 9th March was sold out, and had a waiting list of over 50 further evidencing its popularity.

Marketing activity continues at a steady rate, with reach and engagement across all channels increasing. Planned content includes initiatives that will further drive the event visibility, following a robust strategy alongside Royal and Derngate, with Radio interviews scheduled in the coming weeks.

Rehearsals are underway with the event music industry professional band and London based string section (whose credits include work on James Bond movies to name a few), all local choirs and guest soloists.

A Perfect Day

The council’s 'A Perfect Day' live music festival was announced on 5th February with James Arthur confirmed as the headline act. The festival will be held on Sunday 16th June 2024 at Delapre Abbey.

The council has contracted experienced music promotors Kilimanjaro/UK Live to deliver a weekend of live music which will also include Let’s Rock Northampton an 80’s inspired music festival on Saturday 15th June.

First support, Mae Stephens, was announced on Monday 26th Feb across national and local platforms. Mae is an upcoming artist from Kettering with a fast-growing fanbase.

Sales to date are positive and supported by a robust marketing strategy with vital platforms including an event website which is being updated all the time and will provide a complete visitor guide.

The event planning team are working closely with the economic development team to implement clear measurement of the impact of the events whilst ensuring alignment with the tourism strategy, creating a detailed visitor experience package (from ticket purchase to trip home).

Community and Delapre ward Cllr engagement is scheduled, with several initiatives planned to ensure the local voice is included during the event planning phase.

LIBRARIES & MUSEUMS

Public consultation for the new Library Service Strategy 2023-2027 ran through September and October feedback was largely positive but a key theme that emerged was a need to promote the service offers more widely as many respondents were not aware of many of the services we provide. Marketing and promotion have been added as a priority to the service plan for 2024/25 and a working group will be seeking to address the issues raised during the consultation. The Strategy has now been adopted and has been published on the WNC web pages.

Deanshanger Library has undergone a transformation which has been well received by customers. S106 funding from local developments has enabled us to provide bespoke shelving to increase the size of the children’s area and provide a flexible barrier for our young customers to use the space safely. The new shelves are on wheels to create flexibility in the use of the library space. Some new items of furniture and redecoration of the walls has given the whole library a lift. The Friends of the Library are now exploring the possibility of extending the opening hours on a Friday evening using volunteers.

On Tuesday January 9th, I attended the launch of the Arts Council England funded “Histories of Northamptonshire” project with the unveiling of new permanent exhibition spaces at Brackley Library. The first phase of the £450k project has been to set up industry quality display cases at 4 library locations in West Northamptonshire – Towcester, Brackley, Daventry and Weston Favell. A rotating programme of exhibitions will tour the library locations providing local access to parts of the museum collection and encouraging communities to engage with the wider “Histories of Northamptonshire” project. The first set of exhibitions entitled “Unearthed: Portable antiquities scheme finds from across Northamptonshire” showcase some of the archaeological artefacts discovered locally. Each library will display different artefacts relating to four time periods: Bronze Age, Roman, Medieval, and Post-Medieval. These will circulate around the libraries on a monthly basis. Future exhibitions are planned to celebrate John Clare, the 80th D-Day Anniversary and Black History and Museums and Libraries will work with local communities to design and curate some of the forthcoming displays.

Since November the Museum has been transferring the Leathercraft Collection from its former home in the Grosvenor Centre into its new home at Northampton Museum and Gallery. Objects from the Leathercraft Collection will be used in future exhibitions, events and projects and will be made accessible for use by researchers.

Councillor Adam Brown

Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture & Leisure