Politicians unite on calls for wider entertainment options in Northampton
POLITICIANS in Northampton have backed MP Brian Binley’s call for the town centre to offer a broader appeal to the whole community at night.
The Chronicle & Echo reported yesterday that police were called to more than 1,500 serious, violent or racially aggravated attacks in the town centre last year.
Mr Binley, the Conservative MP for Northampton South, said he thought there needed to be a review of the current situation in which the town centre is only used by a specific section of the community at night when it ought to be used by a “wider section of society”.
Paul Varnsverry, former Northampton Borough Council cabinet member for communities, responsible for policy areas such as licensing, said he supported Mr Binley’s statements and hoped the MP could use his voice in parliament to bring about a change in legislation.
Mr Varnsverry said that one of the problems with the current licensing process was that applicants often successfully appealed to a magistrate’s court outside Northampton after being refused permission to open a new bar or nightclub by the borough council’s licensing committee.
Mr Varnsverry said: “The application process is currently completely in favour of the applicant.
“Local people need to hear appeals as they are the ones with local knowledge and understanding of the issues. The process needs to be fairer and more transparent.”
Conservative MP for Northampton North, Michael Ellis, said he agreed with Mr Binley that it would be good if the town centre offered more for a wider cross section of the community but said it would be hard to legislate to solve the problem.
He said: “Like a lot of town centres across the country, Northampton seems to have developed with an emphasis on late-night entertainment.
“It should be accommodating for a much wider section of the community and would be much healthier if it catered for a wider range of the population.
“But what we have to accept is that a lot of these things are based on commercial considerations.”
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Thursday 01 March 2012
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Comments
There are 13 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
HCinthechair
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 08:55 AMHOS: Good thought! whaddon: Well said! JEZ, WagTheDog and Bobscrabby, you are not venturing into a war zone!! It is a town centre of mostly law abiding young people enjoying themselves. I am many years past late nights in town but my wife and I did find ourselves there with work collegues over Christmas on two occasions. We enjoyed the atmosphere in the pubs and managed to queue at the taxi rank in the early hours without incident or witnessing any abusive behaviour or drunken fighting. If you all continue to talk our town down, it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
HOS
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 06:21 PMTo utilise the market square effectively the council could put up some steel cages on a friday and saturday night for all the drunken weekend warriors to beat the hell out of each other and preserve the safety of anyone else. This would provide an easier clean up job for the police and medics and it could also be recorded on CCTV for future DVD sales. Profits from which could be plunged back into other town centre events.
whaddon
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 05:14 PMYes I agree the town could do with a more varied spectrum on a friday and sat nite, but the fact is, the ones that support the bars are younger people, you cant open a bar an say ' over 40s only' - firstly no one would go and secondly because of the licensing laws now everything has been pushed much later. People saying they wont go into town after 5pm?? ridiculous. They dont go out anyway. Yes there are isolated problems at the weekend in town, sadly there are in MK too. If people are after a quiet drink then any pub in town is quiet till at least 10pm these days, plus there is sunday -thursday when are probably no customers. Dont judge an experience you dont even know about.
.~* JEZ *~.
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 04:15 PMExactly WagTheDog, and to think we've being allowing these drunken kids to take over the Town centre at night for as long as I can remember. Not to mention the policing costs, etc, etc. It's time to put an end to it and start to preserve the town centre and make it a nice place to visit in the evening..... yeah right, it'll never happen.
WagTheDog
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:31 PMThe only way Northampton town centre is going "to offer a broader appeal to the whole community at night" is to curtail the antics of the current part of the population that frequent the place at night. Their behaviour has basically made the whole town centre a no-go area for every one appart from themselves. I won't go near the place after 5 o'clock in the evening. I value my health and safety too much.
bobscrabby
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 03:26 PMMore entertainment in town centre . Suggestion , the betting shops could issue every one in bars and clubs a number , then bets could be placed on the last drunk standing . Sadly I will be visiting our main theater on Saturdays in Jan. and Feb. the last time was Dec. I tried to get a taxi after the show at the market rank , the area was heaving with abusive drunks ,so we now have to order transport for out side theatre to be less threatened . WHAT A TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT!!!.
willi eckaslyke
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 01:08 PMBREAKING NEWS: " Two weeks ago, a small expedionary force made up of members of the wider community headed into the town centre to explore possible areas of broader appeal....They have not been heard of or seen since....Mr Binley is considering a rescue mission...Recently, Bridge Street has been compared to the Khyber Pass of the 1890's...It was from that time that the phrase: 'well and truly up the Khyber' originated"
Removed by moderator
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:44 AMYou could always go to Milton Keynes.
markkidsley
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:04 AMNorthampton has loads of Variety of things to do, with live music on pretty much everyday. Things on all the time at the Derngate. etc. If people bothered to venture out the house instead of moaning about the lack of things to do, then maybe they owuld see bigger and better things coming through this town. I can remember when I was 16 (I'm 22 now) I would go to the Racehorse just to see bands, without caring much for who they were. Just because it was something to do, many of these bands are now regularly played on mainstream radio.
mack80
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 09:19 AMAnother pie in the sky from our M.Ps lets see what cock eyed idea`s Mr Binley and Mr Ellis have in mind surely they cannot be thinking of Morris Dances on the town square at midnight to attract people like ourselves who would not dream of going to town after the shops close
HOS
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 09:13 AMHow about a street fair up Abington Street like there was before the Town council killed it off? I think both our councils are rubbish, they dont want to listen to our opnions about cut backs and them wasting money, but they want our ideas for them to spend more of our money when it suits them? Yeah right....
lady muck
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 08:32 AMI'd like a nice country pub in the town centre, but it's not going to happen. Obn the other hand, I can't be bothered to drive to the country and restrict my alcohol intake. So it's another night at home with a bottle of Chateau Tesco at £5 per bottle.
Pete Brown
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 07:36 AM“But what we have to accept is that a lot of these things are based on commercial considerations.” Yes such as our medicine forget the pain and suffering worry about the almighty ££££££££££ i have spend the last week wishing the NHS would agree to remove both my legs to stop the pain. Where are the politicians to help me??? Nowhere is where.
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