Minutes of the Northampton Town Council full council meeting

PRESENT: Councillor Stephen Hibbert (Town Mayor of Northampton)

Councillor Paul Joyce (Deputy Mayor of Northampton)

COUNCILLORS: J Alwahabi, R Ashraf, J Birch, M Brown, R Connolly, G Eales, T Eales, J Fuchshuber, M Hallam, E Haque, K Holland-Delamere, F Ismail, A Kilbride, J Lane, L Marriott, D Meredith, T Miah,

B Purser, C Russell and W Tarasiewicz

OFFICERS: Mrs J Thorneycroft (Assistant Town Clerk), Mrs C Maclellan (Finance Officer) and

Miss F Barford (Democratic Services Officer)

OTHERS: Ms K Willis (Northampton Together) and Cannon M Webber (Mayor’s Chaplain)

Cannon Webber addressed the Council and read a prayer hoping for peace and prosperity.

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Soan.

2. PUBLIC QUESTIONS/STATEMENT TIME

No public statements or questions were made.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were submitted.

4. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mayor stated he had attended 130 engagements so far meeting fledgling businesses, Annual Governance Meetings and supporting other Mayors across the County.

The Mayor explained he had hosted a successful Charity Curry Night at Mewar Haveli where 100 people had attended and more than £2,500 was raised for Spencer Contact. He continued that recently held a seminar with Mr Steve Pateman who explained the history and story behind the film Kinky Boots. The Mayor expressed his gratitude to the Councillors who had attended his events.

The Mayor invited attendees to the impending Diwali Celebrations on Guildhall Road. He further invited Councillor to join him in the Remembrance Day procession.

5. MINUTES OF THE LAST COUNCIL MEETING

a) TO AUTHORISE THE TOWN MAYOR TO SIGN THE MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 31ST JULY 2023

RESOLVED: The Town Mayor was authorised to sign the minutes of the previous Council meeting held on 31st July 2023 as a true and accurate record of the proceedings.

6. TO RECEIVE AND WHERE APPROPRIATE ADOPT THE DECISIONS AS DETAILED IN THE MINUTES OF THE UNDER MENTIONED COMMITTEES

Planning 21st August 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 21st August be approved and adopted.

Environmental Services 4th September 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Environmental Services Committee meeting held on 4th September 2023 be approved and adopted.

Policy and Finance 11th September 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Policy and Finance Committee meeting held on 11th September 2023 be approved and adopted.

Planning 19th September 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 19th September be approved and adopted.

Community Services Committee 25th September 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on 25th September 2023 be approved and adopted.

Planning Committee 11th October 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 11th October 2023 be approved and adopted.

Policy and Finance Committee (Budget Principles) 23rd October 2023

REFERRED: The Mayor stated the minutes would be presented for approval and adoption at the next Full Council meeting once approved and ratified at the Committee. 0073

7. APPOINTMENT TO NORTHAMPTON BID BOARD

It was proposed by a Councillor that Councillor Birch be appointed to the Northampton Business Improvement District (BID) Board and believed it would be beneficial as the Town Council host and support a variety of events in the Town Centre that benefit local businesses also.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Birch be appointed to the Northampton BID Board as representative of Northampton Town Council.

8. BRIEFING ON THE HERITAGE GATEWAY BY MS KATE WILIS

Ms Kate Willis of the Heritage Gateway Northampton addressed the Council.

Ms Willis stated that Northampton Together was a Civic Society formed just prior to the Pandemic as there was no Civic Society since the 1980’s in Northampton. She continued that the pandemic stunted its growth alongside the sudden death of the Founder, Mr Mike Ingram whose dearest wish was that a Civic Society be formed to harness the pride for Northampton and the aims of Heritage Gateway were to promote the history and culture of Northampton. She stated that the Acorn Hotel hosted leaflets with tourism information that could be done in Northampton. However, within the leaflet packs no tourism site featured anything with an NN postcode.

A Councillor commented there was a scrutiny report commissioned under the former Borough Council on Tourism in Northampton and believe this was stunted due to the pandemic and posed whether the Town Council could use their recommendations and enhance them.

A Councillor raised that the Guildhall over time has become closed to the public which displayed some great history of the Town. He added that there has been a lack of Tourism Information Centre available in the Town.

A Councillor extended her thanks to Ms Willis for attending today’s meeting and appreciated the mission of Northampton Together to promote the heritage of the Town and hoped that the Events and Projects Team could work closely with them.

A Councillor added that the tourism pack from Acorn Hotel was concerning and hoped the newly appointed Councillor to the Northampton BID board could raise this point. He added that the Snapshot in Town app made Heritage readily available to the public and there is a lot of work going on the matter.

A Councillor commented that Northampton Train Station had leaflets that have not much information on the Town. A Councillor stated a local jewellery business features a leaflet that with great information on the Town centre.

MEETING CONCLUDED 6:35PM