West Northamptonshire Council along with the Governing Body of Croughton All Saints CE Primary School proposed to lower the age range from 4 to 11 years to 3 to 11 years from 1 September 2023.
As part of the statutory decision-making process for school organisational changes of this nature the Council is consulted on its proposal sought views.
There were no comments or objections to the proposal.
At the June Cabinet meeting the Council considered the proposal to lower the age range at Croughton All Saints CE Primary School.
The full report for the Cabinet meeting of Tuesday 13th June 2023 is now available. The Cabinet approved the Proposal to lower the age range. Further information Council's Agenda and decisions pages: Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday 13th June 2023, 6.00 pm - West Northamptonshire Council (moderngov.co.uk)
The budget for West Northamptonshire Council will provide a range of services to residents and businesses across the area including vital services like social care, refuse collection and recycling, transport, highways, planning and wellbeing.
The budget consultation period commenced on 21 December 2022 and ended on 31 January 2023.
The consultation provided residents, local partners, and other stakeholders the opportunity to review the budget proposals and provide feedback during the consultation period.
Although the consultation focused on the draft budget proposals that would likely affect residents and service users, respondents were invited to make comments on any part of the Draft Budget 2023-2024.
The council also invited comments on its proposals contained within the Draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget 2023-2024 and Medium Term Financial Plan.
Using the various means available to consultees, local people and organisations provided 1203 responses to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2023-2024 Consultation.
The following is a summary of the responses received to the proposals:
• 31 per cent of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree Council Tax should increase by 2.99 per cent to help fund services while 56 per cent said they tend to disagree or strongly disagree. 12 per cent neither agree nor disagree or do not know. A total of 721 comments were received for this proposal.
• 34 per cent of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree that Council Tax should increase by a further 2 per cent to fund the increase in providing Adult Social Care while 51 per cent said they tend to disagree or strongly disagree. 15 per cent neither agree nor disagree or do not know. A total of 494 comments were received for this proposal.
• 30 per cent of respondents said that they strongly or tend to agree to the proposal to maximise the income from certain discretionary services in order to support essential services. 52 per cent tend to disagree or strongly disagree, 18 per cent neither agree nor disagree or do not know. 355 comments were received on the proposal.
• An invitation to comment on the Draft General Fund Capital Programme 2023-2027 received 148 comments.
• 26 per cent strongly agree or tend to agree to a proposal to review services. 58 per cent tend to disagree or strongly disagree, and 16 per cent neither agree nor disagree. 496 comments were received on this proposal.
For more information about the responses to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2022-23 Consultation, please see the below consultation analysis report.
Cabinet approved the 2023-2024 Budget for West Northamptonshire and recommended the Budget to the Full Council meeting on 22 February 2023. Full details are available on the Cabinet and Full Council meeting papers:
Between November 2022 and January 2023 we consulted upon the draft Brockhall Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan and a proposed conservation area boundary.
The appraisal set out the character of the conservation area and identified important features in order to provide advice to those making proposals which might affect the designation’s special interest.
The appraisal also proposed candidates for the Local List, and formulated proposals for an Article 4(1) Direction.
One the consultation had completed the responses were set out in the report which was presented to the Planning Policy Committee on 28 February 2023:
As the result of the consultation, some additional text was added to the appraisal.
All of the relevant documents can be viewed on the Council’s website:
Conservation areas | West Northamptonshire Council (westnorthants.gov.uk)
The appraisal and amended boundary were adopted at the meeting of Planning Policy Committee on 28 February.
During November and December 2022, we asked people for their thoughts on a proposal to permanently gate a historic pedestrian route called Francis Jetty through use of a Public Spaces Protection Order. This is in order to combat illicit and anti-social behaviour that has been evidenced in this location.
There were 43 responses to this consultation, 33 were full responses, 10 were not completed entirely. Over half of all responses said that they felt anti-social behaviour or crime was an issue in the Francis Jetty area, with just over half of all respondents supporting the gating of the route.
All responses have been considered and plans approved meaning that Francis Jetty will be gated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under a Public Spaces Protection Order.
For updates on this and other WNC PSPO's please visit our Public Spaces Protection Orders webpage
During December 2022, as part of the International Day of Disabilities, West Northants Council’s Disabled People’s Forum ran a survey to find out what prevented people from accessing Leisure Centres for sports activities. This was carried out with the knowledge of Daventry, Towcester, Brackley and Trilogy Leisure Centres and Northants Sport. Drop in meet and greet sessions for people with disabilities were offered over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd December where people could meet staff and have a look around the facilities.
There were a total of 33 responses, 21 were full responses, the remaining 12 were incomplete. All responses have been incorporated into a report, which is available on the councils Disabled People's Forum webpage, (Events and Projects area).
The information is being shared with WNC’s Sports and Active Lives Service, Northants Sport and the Leisure Centres to understand the barriers people with disabilities face which could be useful information for shaping their future offer and will be discussed at a future Disabled People’s Forum meeting. If you would like to join the Forum please contact us at Forums.NBC@westnorthants.gov.uk
Between September 2022 and November 2022, we consulted on the Harlestone Neighbourhood Plan Submission Regulation 16 Consultation 2022 that was submitted by Harlestone Parish Council and the Harlestone Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
As the local planning authority, the Council is required to carry out a consultation on the Plan to provide an opportunity for all parties to comment on whether the submitted plan meets basic conditions in line with the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012 before it goes to examination.
The Harlestone Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) has been prepared following the adoption of the Settlements and Countryside Local Plan (Part 2) for Daventry District in 2020 and the most recent revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2021. It took into account changes in the neighbourhood area and heritage evidence. The Parish Council also developed design guidelines and propose new Local Green Spaces.
Once the consultation had completed the responses were forwarded to the independent examiner who considered the responses in her examination of the plan.
The purpose of the examination was to review whether the neighbourhood plan met the basic conditions and whether it could proceed to referendum. The Examiner's report on the neighbourhood plan was received on 1 February 2023 and published on the Councils website. The Examiner recommended that with modifications the plan met the basic conditions and could proceed to referendum and this was reported to Planning Policy Committee on 28 February 2023, who agreed to put the plan to referendum.
The Regulation 16 consultation and responses were examined and then proceeded to referendum.
Following a majority vote in favour at the referendum held on 20th April 2023, West Northamptonshire Council formally made the Harlestone Neighbourhood Development Plan on 21st April 2023 in accordance with the decision of its planning policy committee on 28th February 2023. The plan now forms part of the Statutory Development Plan and will be used when determining planning applications in the Harlestone Neighbourhood Area.
Further information is available on the Council’s website: West Northamptonshire Council Daventry Area Made Neighbourhood Plans
School admission arrangements must be consulted on in order to make any changes in line with statutory decision-making processes. The Council along with the Governing Body of Parklands Maintained Nursery School put forward and consulted on a proposal to lower the nursery age range from 3 to 5 years to 2 to 5 years from the 31st October 2022. The changes have been proposed due to the number of childcare places reducing when existing Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) provider, Parklands Pre-school, closes and therefore offers 2 year old children within the community access to an alternative placement within the Nursery School.
There were no comments or objections to the proposal.
The October Cabinet meeting of the Council considered the proposal and as there were no comments received during the consultation period, the arrangements will come into place on 31st October 2022 to allow admissions for 2 to 5 year olds for Parklands Maintains Nursery School.
The full report to cabinet and the decision can be seen on the Council's Agenda and decisions pages: Cabinet, Tuesday 11th October 2022.
In June-August 2022 we consulted upon the draft Newnham Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan and a proposed conservation area boundary.
The appraisal set out the character of the conservation area and identified important features in order to provide advice to those making proposals which might affect the designation’s special interest.
The appraisal also proposed candidates for the Local List, and formulated proposals for an Article 4(1) Direction.
Seventeen responses to the consultation were received.
These are set out in a report which was presented to the Planning Policy Committee on 28 February 2023:
As the result of the consultation, amendments were made to the proposed boundary, including reducing one of the proposed extensions at Mounts Lane.
One further candidate for the Local List was also put forward during the consultation period, which was adopted onto the Local List.
All of the relevant documents can be viewed on the Council’s website: Conservation areas | West Northamptonshire Council (westnorthants.gov.uk)
The appraisal and amended boundary were adopted at the meeting of Planning Policy Committee on 28 Febuary, if you could add that in please.
We asked for your views on how to promote responsible dog ownership and prohibit smoking within the Daventry and South Northamptonshire areas. During a 6 week consultation, which ran from 21st February to 4th April 2022, we asked for your views on 9 proposals.
We received 1,275 responses to the consultation. 97% of responses were from individuals. The other 3% were from organisations, charities, parish and town councils or businesses.
You said that you strongly supported all the proposals. A brief summary of the proposals and results are listed below:
Proposal 1 - Failure to clean up after your dog. 74% responding to the proposal. 93% agreed that persons in control of a dog must dispose of its waste responsibly.
Proposal 2 - Persons in control of a dog must not take it into or onto certain areas. 70% responded to this proposal, with 71% agreeing to it.
Proposal 3 - Persons in control of a dog must ensure the dog is on a lead in specified areas. 67% of people responded to this proposal. 83% of these agreeing.
Proposal 4 - Persons in charge of a dog must put the dog on a lead if asked to do so by an authorised officer. 66% responded of which 80% agreeing.
Proposal 5 - Persons in control of a dog must put their dogs on leads near school entrances or exits during school days. 65% responded with 84% agreeing.
Proposal 6 - Persons in charge of a dog must carry appropriate means for clearing up after their dog. 65% of people responded, of those that did respond, 95% agreed.
Proposal 7 - Prohibition of smoking in specified areas. 64% of people responded to this proposal, of those that did, 78% agreed.
Proposal 8 - Maximum fixed Penalty Charge shall be £100. This proposal received a 63% response rate with 70% agreeing.
Proposal 9 - Persons in charge of multiple dogs shall not be allowed to walk any more than four at any one time. 63% of those that took part in this consultation responded to this proposal of which 57% agreed.
All feedback was scrutinised, noted, and used to help draft the new public spaces protection order, which was considered by Cabinet (11th October 2022) who then approved the introduction of the new Public Spaces Protection Order and resolved to make the Order.
The Order will be bought into force on 1st November 2022 and will be in operation for 3 years until the 1st November 2025.
The duly made order can be viewed through the Council's PSPO pages, the consultation analysis report is available as part of the reports presented to Cabinet and are available to view at West Northamptonshire Council - moderngov.co.uk
The budget for West Northamptonshire Council will provide a range of services to residents and businesses across the area including vital services like social care, refuse collection and recycling, transport, highways, planning and wellbeing.
The budget consultation period commenced on 22 December 2021 and ended on 1 February 2022
The consultation provided residents, local partners and other stakeholders the opportunity to review the budget proposals and provide feedback during the six week consultation period.
Although the consultation focused on the draft budget proposals that would likely affect residents and service users, respondents were invited to make comments on any part of the Draft Budget.
Using the various means available to consultees, local people and organisations contributed to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2021-22 Consultation 853 times.
The following is a brief summary of the responses received to the following questions:
• 24.1% of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree Council Tax should increase by 1.99% to help fund services while 69.9% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
• 32.9% of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree that Council Tax should increase by a further 1% as part of the Adult Social Care precept, which would be used to directly fund Adult Social Care while 51.4% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
• 37.43% of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree that rent should increase by the maximum 4.1% (an average increase of £3.84 per week) across the Council’s housing stock, in line with national government policy, while 35.6% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
• 40.1% of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree that garage rent and the commuter surcharge on garages should increase by the maximum 3.1%, while 23.7% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
• 28.8% of respondents said they strongly agree or tend to agree that general service charges should increase by 3.1%, while 37.7% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
For more information about the responses to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2022-23 Consultation, please see the below consultation analysis report.
Cabinet approved the 2022-23 Budget for West Northamptonshire and recommended the Budget to the Full Council meeting on 24 February 2022. Full details are available on the Cabinet and Full Council meeting papers:
Budget 2022/23 Consultation Analysis Report
Budget 2022/23 Consultation Analysis Report – Appendix
Cabinet - Tuesday 15 February 2022
Full Council - Thursday 24 February 2022
School admission arrangements must be determined annually and consulted must be carried out if changes are proposed. We asked for comments on the proposed admission arrangements for the 2023/24 academic year for community and voluntary controlled (local authority maintained) schools as we plan to reduce a small number of schools' Published Admission Numbers (PANs). In addition, each year, all local authorities must formulate and publish on their website, a scheme to co-ordinate admissions to the normal year of entry for all publicly funded schools within their area. Applications are processed in accordance with the timetables set out in these schemes. We asked for comments on the proposed Primary and Secondary co-ordinated schemes for the 2023 intake.
There were no comments or objections to the proposals.
As no comments were received in the consultation, we plan to determine the admission arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools in West Northamptonshire as proposed.
We asked residents, commuters to Northampton and local stakeholders for their views on what hours the bus lane in St James should operate and whether the Council should continue to enforce these hours.
The key headlines from the consultation were as follows:
2725 responses were received.
48% did not agree with enforcement;
50% said they either agreed with maintaining enforcement, or agreed in some circumstances;
Of those who responded in favour of enforcement continuing, 62% said that this should be limited 7.30-9.30am only.
Many other suggestions relating to enforcement times were made (in a free text field) with a common theme being evening ‘rush hour’ enforcement in addition to mornings;
The majority of respondents would not support enforcement if we used the income to support highways and transport services;
A common suggestion was to allow private hire taxis to use the bus lane as well as hackney carriages.
Please see here for Decision Details
We have changed the operation of the bus lane to the morning peak only (07.30am – 09.30am) and the traffic regulation order has been amended to also permit private hire taxis and scooters to use the bus lane.
Enforcement utilising the camera in its current location has ceased.
Local Council Tax Reduction Schemes (LCTRS) were introduced from April 2013 when Council Tax Benefit was abolished and replaced by locally agreed schemes. Those of pensioner age are protected by the prescribed regulations set out by central government.
By law, councils are required to have a scheme to help people on low incomes to pay their Council Tax. Each year councils needs to approve a LCTRS for the following 12 months. Where there are changes proposed, it is necessary for a public consultation to take place.
West Northamptonshire Council set its first Council Tax Reduction Scheme as a new unitary council for the financial year 2021 to 2022. The scheme is aligned for West Northants area and the level of minimum Council Tax contribution that working age claimants must pay is 20% of their Council Tax liability.
Proposal for changes to the LCTRS for 2022 to 2023.
The consultation ran from 20 September 2021 until midnight 17 October 2021 and included an online form open to all residents, stakeholders and people representing organisations.
The West Northamptonshire Council Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS) Consultation 2022-23 received 310. 306 respondents participating via the questionnaire, three responses were received via social media, and there was one oral response via telephone.
Feedback on the proposals:
War widows and war disablement:
Care leavers:
For more information about the feedback received, please see the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2022 to 2023 Consultation Analysis Report and its Appendix.
On 9 November 2021, the West Northamptonshire Council Cabinet:
a) Noted the contents of the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2022 to 2023 Cabinet report.
b) Recommended to Council a Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2022-2023:
c) Recommended to Council that delegated authority would be given to the Executive Director Finance to make any changes to the LCTRS up to and including 31 January 2022 in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance.
REASONS RESOLVED:
To enable a Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme for West Northamptonshire Council to be approved for the financial year 2022-2023 and for the final scheme to be in place by 31 January 2022.
For more information please see the West Northamptonshire Council Cabinet meeting papers of 9 November 2021.
West Northamptonshire Council proposed to make land owned by the Local Authority, to the West of Thorpeville, Moulton, known as ‘Wantage Farm’ available to the Department for Education (DfE) for delivery of a new secondary free school.
New free schools are funded and delivered by the DfE and WNC’s involvement in this matter is limited to providing the site for the proposed new school.
The ‘Proposal by West Northamptonshire Council to make Land West of Thorpeville, Moulton, available to the Department for Education for delivery of a new secondary free school’ consultation ran from Wednesday 4 August to midnight on Friday 3 September 2021.
At the point the period of consultation concluded on 3 September 2021, 688 responses had been received, broken down as follows:
Responses received to the consultation clearly emphasise that respondents agreed with WNC’s assessment that
However, responses in respect of questions relating to whether or not stakeholders believed Wantage Farm to be the right location for a new school were mixed.
The 34 written responses in the form of letters and emails are not included in the numerical analysis above. Of these, 29 expressed general opposition and 5 expressed general support.
On Wednesday 15 September 2021, West Northamptonshire Council Cabinet authorised the Assistant Director Assets and Environment to enter into an Agreement for Lease which would commit the Council to granting a 125-year lease for the construction, and ongoing use, of the site for new secondary school at Wantage Farm, Moulton, Northampton.
Reasons for the decision
For more information about the proposal, consultation and decision, please see the agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday 14 September 2021.
The proposed Cabinet decision would in no way impact on the consideration of the proposed planning application. That would provide a forum where issues such as transport and the impacts on the local area would be resolved.
A consultation questionnaire was launched on the Council’s consultation hub on 3 August and remained open until midnight on 31 August. The following questions were asked: Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution provides guidance on how the Council provides leadership to the community in partnership with citizens, businesses and other organisations? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution supports the active involvement of citizens in the process of council decision making? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution is easy to understand and is up to date? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution helps councillors to represent their constituents more effectively? Do you think the Constitution enables decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution ensures that those responsible for decision-making are clearly identifiable to local citizens and that they explain the reasons for decisions? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution creates a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution ensures that proposals and decisions are effectively and fairly reviewed? Do you agree or disagree that the Constitution provides a means of improving the delivery of services to the community?
The outcome of the consultation is set out in a report to Council dated 2nd December 2022. The report can be reviewed here.
The Task & Finish Group overseeing the review went through the whole of the Constitution, discussed several specific areas in detail, considered the consultation responses, endorsed a number of proposals for change and made several recommendations for amendment to the Constitution. The revised draft Constitution can be found here.
We asked residents to give their views on proposals requesting changes to parking restrictions on streets in The Mounts area of Northampton:
For information about each proposal, please see the supporting information for the Traffic Regulation Order: The Mounts, Northampton activity.
We received 28 responses in total for the Traffic regulation order: Spring Boroughs, Northampton and the Traffic regulation order: The Mounts, Northampton activities.
There was majority approval for each proposal and so all proposals were submitted to the Highways department to be reviewed at the annual Traffic Regulations panel.
We asked residents to give their views on proposals requesting changes to parking restrictions on streets in the Spring Boroughs area of Northampton:
For information about each proposal, please see the supporting information for the Traffic Regulation Order: Spring Boroughs, Northampton activity.
We received 28 responses in total for the Traffic Regulation Order: Spring Boroughs, Northampton and the Traffic Regulation Order: The Mounts, Northampton activities.
Following feedback from Traffic Regulation Order: Spring Boroughs, Northampton activity:
The remaining proposals deemed acceptable have been submitted to the Highways department to be reviewed at the annual Traffic Regulations panel. Only responses where there was majority approval were included in the final submission.
Update on 14 May 2021: The links below have been updated following the transfer of committee meetings to the West Northamptonshire Council Moderngov website.
The first draft budget for West Northamptonshire Council was approved for consultation by the Shadow Executive on 5 January 2021.
The following summarises the main features of the proposed draft budget:
The draft budget was subject to a full public and business consultation exercise which ran for four weeks from 6 December 2021 and closed on 2 February 2021.
The consultation focused on the draft budget proposals that would likely affect residents and service users. However, respondents were invited to comment on anything within the draft budget.
Using the various means available to consultees, local people and organisations contributed to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2021-22 Consultation 457 times.
Council Tax harmonisation proposals:
Council Tax increase proposals:
Housing Revenue Account (HRA) proposals:
For more information about the responses to the West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2021-22 Consultation, please see Appendix I – West Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2021-22 Consultation Analysis Report from the West Northamptonshire Shadow Authority meeting on 23 February 2021.
On Tuesday 23 February 2021, the West Northamptonshire Shadow Authority approved a budget of £326.6 million to provide services to residents and businesses in West Northamptonshire.
For more information about the 2021 to 2022 budget for West Northamptonshire, please see the:
Update on 14 May 2021: The links below have been updated following the transfer of committee meetings to the West Northamptonshire Council Moderngov website.
From April 2013, each Local Authority has been required to determine a LCTRS, which replaced the national Council Tax Benefit scheme.
Prior to 1 April 2021, each District and Borough in West Northamptonshire had a different LCTRS that gives different levels of support to working age people. From April 2021, the current schemes will end and a new scheme will need to be agreed.
At the meeting on 27 October 2020, the Shadow Executive agreed six proposals, for consultation purposes only, and approved a consultation period of six weeks.
The consultation ran from Monday 2 November 2020 until midnight on Sunday 13 December 2020 and included an online form open to all residents, stakeholders and people representing organisations.
The proposals that were included in the consultation are shown below:
The West Northamptonshire Council Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS) Consultation 2021-22 received 368 responses of which 309 were fully completed.
159 responses were from Local Council Tax Reduction recipients and 123 from other Council Taxpayers. The remaining responses were from people representing organisations and housing associations or from people who preferred not to say.
Feedback on the six proposals:
1. Level of contribution for working age:
2. War Widows and War Disablement:
3. Family Premium:
4. Child allowance in the calculation of LCTRS:
5. Minimum self-employed income:
6. Non dependant deductions:
For more information about the feedback received, please see the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS) Consultation Results report.
A greater level of feedback was received to proposal one, the level of contribution of 26.5% to be paid by working age customers. There was a moderate level of support for this proposal as detailed in the report on the consultation outcome.
Having considered the consultation process and the ongoing economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a 20% scheme was recommended for adoption moving forward.
On Tuesday 26 January 2021, the West Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee:
a) Noted the contents of this report and the previous report received by the Shadow Executive on 5 January 2021;
b) Agreed, under 3.2.2 of the report, the following proposals:
c) Granted delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer to make amendments as required to the Local Council Tax Reduction Regulations up to and including 31 January 2021 including the income uprating announced by MHCLG.
For more information about the West Northamptonshire Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2021-2022, please see the West Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee meeting papers of 26 January 2021.
Update on 14 May 2021: The links below have been updated following the transfer of committee meetings to the West Northamptonshire Council Moderngov website.
The West Communications & Engagement Task and Finish Group were given a Brief, in June 2020, to come up with ideas for a Visual Identity / logo for the new West Northamptonshire Council.
The Consultation Hub was utilised to facilitate a widely publicised survey for residents, members and staff to give their opinions and suggestions on the 3 shortlisted draft logos.
The ‘Have your say on the new West Northamptonshire Council logo’ survey ran for 3 weeks from 17 August to 6 September 2020.
The ‘Have your say on the new West Northamptonshire Council logo’ survey received 1,740 responses.
539 respondents did not give a preference.
The preferred design was that of four interlinked rings, but as to be expected, there were also some very useful comments and suggestions which were used to create the final version of the logo.
Suggested amendments following survey comment analysis:
For more information on the ‘Have your say on the new West Northamptonshire Council logo’ survey, please see:
On Tuesday 24 November 2020, the West Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee:
Amendments following survey comment analysis:
Update on 14 May 2021: The links below have been updated following the transfer of committee meetings to the West Northamptonshire Council Moderngov website.
Prior to 1 April 2021, each sovereign council in the West Northamptonshire area had their own customer services opening hours.
In June 2020, the Programme Delivery Group approved in principle the harmonisation of hours for customer services opening hours for the North and West Northants subject to consultation with the public on preferred hours.
The consultation was limited to four options to manage expectations and enable the customer services opening hours to be harmonised with minimal impact on resources. Respondents had the options of:
The ‘Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities’ survey took place from the 27 July to 23 August 2020.
In total, the ‘Customer Services opening hours in the new Northamptonshire unitary authorities’ survey received 1,225 responses from residents of Northamptonshire.
Feedback on preferences:
There was a clear preference of 9:00am to 5:00pm from respondents in West Northamptonshire.
On Tuesday 27 October 2020, the West Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee approved the recommended customer services opening hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm for West Northamptonshire Council.
The analysis of consultation feedback alongside the telephony call volume data informed the recommended opening hours.
For more information about the approval of the customer services opening hours for West Northamptonshire Council, please see the: