This has occurred while pupils have been attending these schools and caused a massive amount of disruption to students and teachers alike and will have affected the education of thousands of pupils who have and are still attending these schools and, in some cases, the building work is still not complete.

I have worked in two schools where the re-building is still happening and the problems caused by this have to be experienced to be appreciated; meanwhile students and staff are still having to work under very difficult circumstances and I feel these factors should have been taken into account before the decision of "threatened closure" was reached.

Some of the blame should also be laid at the door of Northamptonshire County Council which, when planning the re-organisation, apparently failed to fully appreciate the length of time involved in the re-building of the schools, the problems that would ensue as a result and the effect this would have on standards and results.
(Mrs) B A Meade,
Boughton Green Road, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.

Heartily sick of 'faffing' around
Once again there is another prime example of the total lack of decision by the people who are running (if that is not a contradiction in terms) this town.

We are now told that the plans for Sixfields and town centre could now possibly go ahead next year.

But there in the small print is the qualifier, the council says "the Sixfields development must not harm the town centre".

Over the past 20 years, no-one could have harmed the town centre more than the people who have been responsible for the running of the town.

When will the council and all parties responsible for the regeneration of this once fair town, please take note that the people who live here are heartily sick of all their "faffing" around.

Will this present council please do what they were elected to do and get this town back to a position where we can be proud of it.

Last month I had to apologise to a visitor from Canada for the state of the town centre.

It was no consolation when he said that it was okay as they have some places over there just as bad.
Doug Buckle,
Kentstone Close, Northampton.

Expansion, but no infrastructure
Following the release of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) report, showing South Northamptonshire as one of only five local authorities showing over 11 per cent growth, I have, again, to ask how will South Northamptonshire and Northamptonshire cope?

I believe that we have a duty to provide homes for our expanding population but this rise in growth, over 11 per cent, is natural growth and shows that once West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) begins to implement some of its expansion plans for South Northamptonshire, the district will be woefully underserved in its infrastructure.

We all want Towcester, Brackley and the villages across South Northamptonshire to be successful and vibrant communities which have the services they need.

I therefore have to pose the question, where is the support and the services?

In Towcester, for example, the town needs to expand to support a growing wish to live in the town but the proposed expansion seems very vague about the support for and provision of the essential services that make communities sustainable and successful.

The proposals include a bypass that isn't a bypass (it's a single lane estate road to feed the housing developments), a new school to replace Sponne School, a school of over 1,700 pupils, with a new school on the edge of the new development.

Considering the new development of over 3,000 homes will add to the need for school places, this is understandable but it moves the school almost as far from a central location as is possible.

Even the recent Commission for Architecture and Built Environment report labelled the development as "separate" and "disjointed" with the rest of the town, not an ideal start.

The Labour Government's change to the original wording for the creation of WNDC, which changed the need for infrastructure from "frontloaded", so you get the infrastructure before the development starts so as to support the growing needs of the expanded town, to "phased" which means the infrastructure is put in place at a later, and undefined, date, means that Towcester's already creaking support and infrastructure will be tested to breaking point as the town expands.

This will further add to the growth, already recognised as among the five highest in Britain, but it must come with the local and national support for the infrastructure of towns and villages across the area.
Councillor Scott Collins,
Lib Dem, Northampton Borough Council and former Towcester councillor.

Tories help pay for 'yes' booklet
IT is nice to see that the two East Midlands Conservative MEPs back the "no" result in the Irish referendum (Chron, June 16), but that's odd, the Tories actually supported the "yes" vote, belonging as they do, Roger Helmer apart, to the European Parliament's EPP group, which made a hefty contribution to the "yes" booklet!

In previous Irish referendums, the "no" vote has been around the 500,000 mark. Even senior Irish "yes" supporters attribute the increase of 300,000 votes to the "no" campaign's excellent booklet.

This did not instruct people which way to vote, it was just straightforward information.

This was produced by the Ind-Dem group, to which UKIP MEPs belong, and mailed to every Irish home at a total cost of some 100,000 euros.

It was paid for by Ind-Dem exclusively, half of this from UKIP.

So I have every reason to be delighted with the Irish result.

I consider my money well spent, helping to get a "no" in the referendum we were not allowed to have.
Derek Clark MEP,
UKIP, East Midlands.