Help us understand your priorities

As you may be aware, local government in Northamptonshire is going through a period of transformation as it moves towards the creation of two new unitary authorities to replace the current eight councils. In order for this to be a success it is essential that those services currently provided by Northamptonshire County Council are placed on a firmer financial footing to make sure the two new unitary councils don’t inherit the significant issues faced by the authority. This needs to happen before the new councils are created to make sure they start life with transformed, affordable services and a balanced budget.

 

To help us in this work we want your views on what you consider to be the priorities. We want to know what services you feel are most important to you, your family and your communities, how you rate these services and what improvements could be made. We are asking these questions now and will repeat this every six months to make sure we are aware of your views on an ongoing basis.

 

Have your say

This survey gives background to the challenge facing the Council and sets out the different services that the Council provides and asks you how important they are to you and the wider community, how well you feel the services are currently being delivered and whether there are areas of improvement that we should focus on. The survey closes at midnight on Sunday 20^th October.

 

Details of this and all current and recent consultations can be found on our consultation hub.

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Weight Management Service For Adults 2019

Northamptonshire County Council’s Public Health and Wellbeing Team want to know what helps people to lose weight and how that can be applied to weight management programmes in the county.

 

We want to help more people to maintain a healthy weight or to reach their weight loss goals. Residents are able to access free weight management services if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28 and above. This service is a 12 week group programme through a variety of providers. We want to ensure that these services are meeting the needs of residents who want to lose weight.

 

If you would like to give us your views then please complete our online questionnaire and tell us about your knowledge, awareness and opinions of services that help people lose weight. We are interested in your views even if you have never used a weight management service.

 

Your feedback will be used to enable us to have a better understanding of peoples’ views on weight management services and will help us shape the future of these services. Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.

 

This survey closes on 15 November 2019.

Consultation on the future of the Evelyn Wright House Older People’s Care Home 2019

Evelyn Wright House is a 29-bedded registered residential care home for older people over 60 years old who have a physical disability and/or dementia.

 

The home is in need of significant investment to bring it up to modern standards and fit for future use. It has been calculated that Evelyn Wright House is likely to need investment of approximately £800,000 to carry out the immediate remedial works identified as well as further additional amounts for necessary modernisations works.

 

Due to the increasing support needs of people in residential care, the building layout and configuration are also no longer fit for purpose and to change this would require further significant investment.  The current building is also close to not meeting the regulatory standards for building compliance for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as specified in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

 

Unless the remedial works are carried out Evelyn Wright House will become unfit for purpose. However, the building works required to bring it up to modern standards and make appropriate interim arrangements for customers whilst necessary works are undertaken would take approximately 18-24 months, and the level of disruption this would cause current residents would be unacceptable. It is therefore proposed that we should stop providing the service at Evelyn Wright House and customers be moved to other homes. Customers’ care needs will be re-assessed to ensure any alternative accommodation is suitable and meets their needs.

 

Northamptonshire Adults Social Services (NASS) have made staff and residents aware of the scale of the work required and have explored options to move residents into other care homes. Some customers may wish to remain living in the Daventry area and there are some residential spaces available in another care home service close by, run by Shaw Healthcare, as well as other care providers.

 

The feedback from the consultation will help inform the Council’s decision on the future of Evelyn Wright House at the Cabinet meeting on 14 January 2020.

 

Have your say

You can give us your views in a number of ways. Please visit our web site for all of the different ways you can give your feedback to these proposals, including our online questionnaire.

 

This consultation closes on 19 November 2019.

Northamptonshire Adult Social Services: Proposed changes to the Council’s Fair Contributions Policy

Northamptonshire Adult Social Services have published the following consultation.

 

Proposed changes to the Council’s Fair Contributions Policy

 

As a council with responsibility for social care, we must make sure that people who are eligible for social care have their needs met, within the financial resources available. At the same time, we must make sure that where customers meet the financial criteria to make a contribution towards the cost of their care, they do so in a way that meets current national regulations and guidance. We do this in a way which is equitable and fair and is clearly explained in policy statements.

 

Social care is means tested. This means that everyone contributes what they can afford towards the cost of their care. This does not include services that are provided by the NHS, for example community nurses.

 

We want to make sure that we provide a fair service to all people who are eligible for Care and Support. We want those who can afford it to make a fair contribution towards the services they receive.

 

We are reviewing our Fair Contributions Policy and are proposing the following three changes, which we are consulting on:

1. A change to the rate of Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) to have a single standard rate of £23 per week, instead of having two levels as at present (£18 per week for people on the lower/middle rate of benefits and £28 per week for people on the higher rate of benefits)

2. A change to the level of Older Person’s Standard Income Disregard (a deduction of £5.50 per week to the current standard rate) which would bring the Council in line with other authorities and Department of Health guidance

3. A change to the current charging model for residential college charges, so that all affected customers are charged a reduced amount for their care provisions by charging under domiciliary (home care) rules

 

Have your say

You can give us your views in a number of ways. Please visit our web site for all of the different ways you can give your feedback to these proposals, including our standard online questionnaire or the easy read version of the questionnaire.

 

This consultation closes on 3 December 2019.

VILLAGE STREET LIGHT REPLACEMENT PROJECT

Yardley Gobion Parish Council gratefully acknowledges the grant of £9,720.10 from South Northamptonshire Council towards the replacement of obsolete, inefficient and dangerous village street lights with low energy LED lanterns, which provide brighter lighting together with lower maintenance and running costs.  Whilst being more environmentally friendly, this improved street lighting will also provide additional security to residents when it is dark.

‘The funding for this project was awarded by South Northamptonshire Council.  Community Grants are available to all organisations and individuals located in the district.  For more information on applying for Community Grants please visit http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/grantscommunity.htm’

Northamptonshire ACRE

Northamptonshire ACRE are currently working on setting up Good Neighbour Schemes across Northamptonshire and with the support of the Council are now setting them up in South Northants.

We would love to hear from you or anyone in your community that might like to set up a Scheme so please get in touch if you would like further information or have any questions.

Good Neighbour Schemes use voluntary effort from local people to provide help and support for anyone in their village who might need assistance with low level tasks such as lifts to day centres, GP surgery or other appointments, help with shopping or gardening, filling in forms and letter writing or using computers or even dog walking. They have been proven to be an effective means to help alleviate loneliness and social isolation in rural communities especially among older people as well as helping to strengthen community ties.

Volunteers provide the kind of help that would be expected of a good neighbour (changing a light bulb, giving someone a lift, picking up a prescription). They do not do complex jobs or provide social care services. A pool of local co-ordinators and volunteers means that no individual volunteer is overburdened, and the whole community benefits by being more connected.

Informal arrangements already exist in many villages, but they can be hit or miss, with some people well provided for while others are overlooked. Adopting the ‘Good Neighbour’ approach ensures that neighbourly assistance is available to everyone in the community that needs it.

South Northants Council are supporting Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) to set up 7 Good Neighbour Schemes in the District. The Schemes can be run by anyone and can be tailored to fit the needs of the community. For those that decide to set up a scheme funding and step by step support will be provided. A grant of up to £1000 will be given per scheme by South Northants Council.

Good Neighbour Schemes have successfully been set up in other parts of the County and both South Northants Council and Northamptonshire ACRE are keen to build on these successes.

For more information please contact:

Rebecca Breakwell—Northamptonshire Acre Rural Officer.

Rebecca.breakwell@northantsacre.org.uk. 01604 825884.

NACRE: For over 60 years Northamptonshire ACRE has supported rural communities in the county. They are an independent countywide charity working with rural communities to improve their quality of life , especially for the disadvantaged. They are one of 38 Rural Community Councils across England that make up the ACRE Network.

War Memorial Restoration

The war memorial restoration was completed in time for the Remembrance Day service of November 2018. As part of the process, the plaque commemorating the loss of the crew of the Royal Canadian Air Force Wellington Bomber which crashed on 20th March 1944 was replaced with corrected spellings of the names of the crew.

The funding for this project was awarded by South Northamptonshire Council.  Community Grants are available to all organisations and individuals located in the district.  For more information on applying for Community Grants please visit http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/grantscommunity.htm

The Parish Council also gratefully acknowledges the contribution from Mr & Mrs LeBlanc, relatives of Sgt Lorne H. JOHNSTON, one member of the crew of a Wellington Bomber who lost their lives close to Yardley Gobion in 1944 when the aircraft developed an engine fault during a cross country training exercise and came down on the night of 20th March 1944, killing all eight Canadian RAF personnel on board.