- Details
08 December 2023
Residents in West Northants can expect simplified and improved services through a major upgrade of the Revenue and Benefits systems.
West Northamptonshire Council is implementing a software upgrade that will replace the Council's multiple legacy Revenue and Benefits systems with a single, modern platform designed to streamline operations and improve the online experience for residents when interacting with the Council. The upgrade will be rolled out in stages with residents within the Northampton area being the first to experience the changes.
As the Council implements the new software the Revenue and Benefits systems for the Northampton area will be temporarily unavailable from Thursday, 14 December 2023 through Tuesday, 9 January 2024.
During the upgrade, residents will be unable to access the customer portal and online forms. Throughout this period residents will be able to make Council Tax and Business Rates payments as usual.
For residents with ongoing benefits claims and regular payments, these will continue unaffected. However, new claims and notifications of change submitted from Wednesday, 13 December will be assessed after the upgrade is complete.
While Customer Service Agents will still be available to support residents, their access to information will be limited. Residents are encouraged to only contact us for urgent matters during this time.
We aim to provide an efficient, user-friendly experience for our residents and businesses. The upgrade of our Revenue and Benefits system for the Northampton area is an important step forward in modernising our systems to better serve our residents.Cllr Mike Hallam, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and HRWe appreciate everyone's understanding and cooperation as we work towards enhancing our services for the benefit of the West Northamptonshire community.
Want the latest Council news delivered straight to your inbox?
- Details
08 December 2023
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has launched a second round of grant funding which aims to create additional volunteering opportunities in West Northants.
The Community Funding grants project has received £47,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Voluntary and Community Sector organisations can apply for grants of up to £1,500 for projects which address a local community need while supporting the Council’s vision to make West Northamptonshire a great place to live, work, visit and thrive.
Free 2 Talk CIC was recently awarded funding to support new supervised volunteers work which aims to improve outcomes across academic, behavioural, emotional, and social areas of young people's lives in Northampton.
Northamptonshire Mind also received a grant to deliver their Rural Outreach Project which will recruit supported volunteers to provide community outreach in areas identified as being at the highest risk of social exclusion.
In addition, Renew169 Wellbeing Café in Towcester received funding to enable the recruitment of volunteers to support safe space sessions, which aim to reduce loneliness and isolation in people with emotional or mental health difficulties.
We’re thrilled to be awarding this second round of funding to support and enable our Community and Voluntary Sector organisations to continue their valuable work in our communities.Cllr David Smith, WNC’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement, and Regulatory ServicesI encourage all those who are eligible to fill out an expression of interest form or get in touch with our Grants Team to find out more.
Further information and the full criteria for applications can be found on the WNC website and in the Council’s Community Funding Grants Framework. If you would like to speak to the Community Funding Grants Team about your project or your eligibility to apply for this grant, email: [email protected] including your contact telephone number.
More information about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) can be found on the Gov website.
Want the latest Council news delivered straight to your inbox?
- Details
08 December 2023
A Northampton restaurant has been fined £33,097 for hygiene breaches following successful prosecution by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) after health protection officers found poor hygiene standards during a routine visit.
At Wellingborough Magistrates Court on Tuesday 5 December, the food business operators of Kerala Hut, Wellingborough Road, Northampton, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of breaching food safety and hygiene regulations.
Prosecuting the case from the WNC in-house legal team, Susan Desfontaines informed the Court that the case followed a routine inspection and subsequent revisits carried out between 28 September 2022 and 31 March 2023 when WNC officers found that the kitchen was not kept clean, equipment in contact with food was in a filthy condition and/or was in poor repair, food was not being protected from contamination, and adequate facilities for cleaning hands had not been provided. In addition to this, Hygiene Improvement Notices that had been served on the company, had not been complied with.
The food business operator, Kerala Hut Ltd, together with the three company directors, were charged with 12 counts of breaching the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.
The company and the three directors received fines totalling £33, 097 (which included victim surcharges of £3,742) and were ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £3,147.87 in full.
I welcome the decision made by the Wellingborough Magistrates Court. We take these kinds of offences extremely seriously. Food business operators have a legal responsibility to provide safe food and maintain hygiene standards; those who do not must be held accountable for their actions.Cllr David Smith, WNC’s Cabinet Member for community safety, engagement and regulatory servicesThis prosecution by the Council sends out a clear message to the food industry that non-compliance will not be tolerated.
To find out more about food hygiene ratings across West Northamptonshire download the ‘West Northamptonshire Council’ app from the app store on your mobile phone or tablet.
Want the latest Council news delivered straight to your inbox?
- Details
06 December 2023
The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery Volunteer Military Archive and Research Team have won a national award and been highly commended for the Volunteers in Museum Learning Award issued by the Marsh Trust in conjunction with the British Museum.
The 6 volunteers make the military archive of objects and documents relating to the Northamptonshire Regiment and the Northamptonshire Yeomanry accessible by answering family history queries alongside book and other research enquiries. The team also support visits to the collection and in January, were on hand to provide support to the new recruits from C-Company Anglian Regiment during their visit to see the Victoria Crosses held by the museum.
The volunteers contribute different skills and expertise to the group and meet every week at the museum. In 2022 they answered 148 external and internal enquiries during 2016 hours of volunteering and received lots of fantastic compliments – occasionally even making people cry with happiness.
I am absolutely thrilled that the Volunteer Military Archive and Research Team has been recognised by the British Museum for their dedicated work at Northampton Museum and Gallery.Cllr Adam Brown, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture and Leisure at West Northamptonshire CouncilIt was a pleasure to meet with the team recently to discuss their work which has a significant value for visitors to the local area.
I want to thank all those involved for enabling people to learn about Northamptonshire’s military history and connect with their family history.
The British Museum and the Marsh Charitable Trust have been working in partnership for the fifteenth year through the Volunteers for Museum Learning award which recognises the hugely important contribution that volunteers make to help museums engage with their visitors. The award forms part of a programme of awards presented by the Marsh Charitable Trust in the fields of science, ecology, conservation, heritage, literature and volunteering.
Want the latest Council news delivered straight to your inbox?
- Details
07 December 2023
Around a quarter of food bought in the UK goes to waste, costing the average family about £700 a year. By reducing the amount of food we throw away, we can save money and reduce our carbon footprint.
That's why our waste and recycling team has put together some top tips to help you reduce food waste and save money over the Christmas and New Year period.
Planning is key:
- Planning meals in advance, checking what food you have in the kitchen and writing a shopping list means you can avoid buying food that won’t get used.
- Meal planning and cooking at home can be better for your health too, as you can control the ingredients that you use (less salt, less sugar etc)
The difference between use-by and best-before dates:
- Food is often safe to eat after its best-before so long as it passes the sight and smell test.
- Use-by dates are a safety measure, so be more careful.
Making good use of your freezer:
- Freezing food that is close to its use-by date means you can keep it for longer.
- Most foods freeze well, except for egg-based sauces and high water content vegetables.
- Foods should be allowed to cool before freezing and stored in a container or wrapped up to prevent freezer burn.
- Rice can be frozen so long as it is cooled quickly and frozen within an hour of cooking.
Using your leftovers:
- Leftover food can be kept in the fridge in a container and eaten another day or used to make another dish.
- As a general rule, leftovers stored in the fridge are ok to eat within 3 or 4 days.
- Visit the Love Food Hate Waste or BBC Good Food websites to find recipe ideas for your leftovers.
Batch cooking meals:
- Cooking double can reduce the amount of ingredients left over that might need to be thrown away.
- Batch cooking also saves time cooking and buying in bulk could save you money.
- Some people will batch cook certain base ingredients that can be incorporated into different meals throughout the week.
Naturally, some food is going to end up going to waste. Rather than throwing it away into the general waste, it can be recycled and turned into compost or green energy. You can order food recycling bins for free.
Find out more information about waste and recycling collections this Christmas
Want the latest Council news delivered straight to your inbox?