Former Northampton Mayor suspended from Labour Party pending investigation
A West Northamptonshire councillor and former mayor of Northampton has been suspended from the Labour party after being found guilty of breaching a Community Protection Notice ordering him to clear rubbish from land he owned.
East Midlands Labour Party yesterday (July 6) stated councillor Nazim Choudary has been suspended pending an investigation.
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Hide AdCllr Choudary remains a member of the party but can not attend council meetings.
On June 25, he was issued with a £2,500 fine at Northampton Magistrates Court after being found guilty of breaching a Community Protection Notice ordering him to clear piles of rubbish from a site he owned in Beech Avenue, as well as to properly secure it.He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,770 plus a £181 surcharge.
The court had heard the vacant site had become a hotspot for fly-tipping after the fence surrounding it fell into disrepair.
Northampton Borough Council’s Neighbourhood Warden for the area had tried to work with councillor Choudary to get the site cleared and properly secured in 2019.
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Hide AdBut when the council received no response to their communications, a written warning was issued in November 2019, followed by a Community Protection Notice in February 2020.
And with councillor Choudary taking no action to resolve the issue, the council secured the land with temporary fencing to prevent further fly-tipping.
The resulting prosecution was delayed due to a backlog in the court system as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, before eventually being brought by West Northamptonshire Council.
Cllr Choudary, who has since sold the plot of land which had been earmarked for a bungalow, was first elected to represent St David’s and Kingsthorpe on the former Northampton Borough Council in 2011.
In 2019 he became the youngest ever Northampton mayor at the age of 35.
In May, he won one of three seats on the new West Northamptonshire unitary authority in the Talavera ward.