Restoring Northampton will 'boost' town, says council
"By revitalising the St James Depot site, we are not only preserving the historical significance of the Transport Office but also creating much-needed housing and boosting the local economy."The council has identified a need for quality housing in the area, but a council report said developing this site posed a range of "significant challenges".Its cabinet will meet on next Tuesday to discuss the next phase of plans and assign contractors.Contracts for the repair work must be signed by the end of March in order for the funding to be released.The vision for the project includes the retention of the original tram facades, with "tramshed terraces" in between, and newbuild maisonettes and townhouses across the rest of the site.The council will then seek a development partner for the housing scheme once the remedial works have finished.
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Watchdog condemned for clearing Grant Shapps to join defence startup
The parliamentary standards body has been criticised for clearing Grant Shapps, a former Conservative defence secretary, to join a defence startup as long as he promises not to work on defence matters. In a ruling that drew scorn from political ethics experts, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which monitors and advises on the revolving door between Westminster and the business sector, gave Shapps the green light to become the chair of Cambridge Aerospace. Shapps told Acoba that the company, founded three months after the Conservatives' general election defeat last year, planned to 'develop technologies to reduce risks to aviation'. Disclosures show he cited examples such as airport delays caused by drones. Acoba, which is due to be scrapped amid allegations that it is 'toothless', agreed he could take up the position, providing 'strategic direction and high level advice', on condition that he did not work on matters related to defence. Acoba appeared to accept Shapps's description of Cambridge Aerospace's activities, saying the company's work 'focuses on civilian aerospace', meaning there was no direct overlap with the former defence minister's access to sensitive information. The Labour MP Phil Brickell said this explanation was 'stretching credulity' given Cambridge Aerospace's own public statements and backers. The company, which has attracted around $100m (£73.9m) in funding, outlined its plans in a presentation to investors, first reported by The Upstart and subsequently obtained by The Guardian. Slides in the presentation describe Cambridge Aerospace as a 'defence tech' company and refer to the need to prepare for a 'new era of warfare'. Speaking to Bloomberg last month, Prof Steven Barrett, Cambridge Aerospace's co-founder and a longtime acquaintance of Shapps, said the company had 'one mission'. This was 'to protect the UK and our allies from the well-known threats we face from the skies'. The company's first product, dubbed Skyhammer, aims to intercept drones and cruise missiles, leading to comparisons with Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system. The technology is understood to have been initially intended to counter drones and could expand to include defence against threats including ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The firm is planning to operate from an engineering site in Munich and a manufacturing hub in the Polish city of Gdansk. Barrett's co-founder, Chris Sylvan, previously worked for Anduril, a California-based defence company that is developing what Sylvan appears to have described as 'robot fighter jets' in a post on the professional social networking platform LinkedIn. The post is no longer available. Shapps served as defence secretary between August 2023 and July 2024, a tenure that falls within the two-year grace period during which former ministers must apply to Acoba if they want to take up private sector roles. The system is designed to ensure that ministers and their new employers do not benefit unfairly from information or contacts garnered from their time in government. Acoba can only advise on appointments but, in practice, has no power to block them, unlike its equivalent body in France, which can veto appointments. In its advice to Shapps, Acoba said the risk of a conflict of interest was 'limited'. 'Whilst you will have had oversight of a wide range of information on policy, operations and matters generally affecting defence, there is no direct overlap with your access to sensitive information as this work focuses on civilian aerospace,' it said. Earlier this year, Keir Starmer pledged to replace Acoba, which was described as 'toothless' in a 2017 report, with a tougher system of checks and balances to monitor ministers' private earnings after leaving office. Brickell said Acoba's advice to Shapps was 'yet another example' of why Labour was getting rid of Acoba. 'It's weak, has no teeth and doesn't have the powers to prevent conflicts of interest from arising,' he said. 'Grant Shapps seems to be saying one thing about what he'll be doing, while his company is saying another. It is stretching credulity to breaking point. The authorities clearly need to look at this again, and Shapps should resign from this post if he can't provide satisfactory answers.' A spokesperson for the campaign group Transparency International said: 'Oversight of this revolving door rests on little more than gentlemen's agreements, with no means in practice of enforcing the business appointment rules. 'It will just invite abuse until the rules governing former ministers entering the private sector are tightened, and properly enforced.' Shapps said: 'I joined Cambridge Aerospace because I have always believed in the importance of protecting our civilian airspace — a belief only strengthened by witnessing the devastation caused by Russia's aggression in Ukraine. 'As the company has grown, so too have the threats facing our nation. Our mission is to develop technology that can save lives, strengthen UK and allied security, and create highly skilled British jobs. I'm proud to be a founding partner in a business dedicated to those goals.' A spokesperson for Acoba pointed to the advice it had given Shapps not to engage in defence matters for two years. 'The committee also took into account that as a qualified pilot since 1995, Mr Shapps had a long-term interest in aviation, unrelated to his time in ministerial office,' they added. Barrett said: 'In the less than a year since Cambridge Aerospace was formed, we have developed a range of products, hired nearly 60 people into highly skilled engineering roles, and continue to invest significantly in full domestic manufacturing. 'As we have seen in Ukraine, the need to protect against a range of threats from the air, targeted at anything from infrastructure to civilian populations is only increasing. I am incredibly proud of the work our team has done to provide a low-cost solution that can provide vital defensive capabilities to these threats facing Europe and our allies.'
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Rubbish collections are delayed because of a staff shortage... after binmen went on holiday
A delay in rubbish collections in London has been caused by staff shortages with binmen going on holiday. A shortage of drivers has left Ealing Council considering paying its remaining workers more to fill the gap. The council said that while some workers were on sick leave, it expected disruption to continue until holidays finished in September. On Sunday, the Government warned that taxpayers rely on regular waste collections and said the vital service must continue, The Telegraph reported. Meanwhile council tax has risen for Ealing residents, with the average band D homes now paying £93 extra per month, from £1,948 to £2,041. Occupiers in band H properties are now paying more than £4,000 in council tax. The Labour-led council said the services were being deployed later than usual, adding that any bins not collected on schedule would be prioritised the following day. A council spokesman told the Chiswick Calendar: 'We are sorry about the delays that are occurring to bin collections due to driver shortage and the impact it is having on residents. 'This is because a number of staff are currently off sick and, in addition, as it is the summer holiday period many staff are on leave, which we anticipate lasting until September when the holidays have finished.' 'To address this issue we are actively recruiting more staff. We also employ a number of HGV drivers, which are highly sought after across various industries, including supermarket deliveries, and consequently they are likely to be attracted by companies that are able to offer higher salaries. The council said it was reviewing salaries and other incentives for staff. Susan Hall, Conservative leader in the London Assembly, said the lack of collection was 'outrageous'. 'When you're paid to do a job, damn well do it and the people in charge of them, they need to be talked to as well,' she told The Telegraph. 'When you're running a company or a business, you have to make sure you've got a certain amount of staff in order to deliver the service you're providing. 'Just because these people work for a council, they assume they can do what they like. It's not good enough.' In Birmingham, mounds of rubbish is still piling up, seven months after strikes began in the city. Lengthy negotiations are taking place between the Unite union and city council - but there still appears to be no end in sight. Some locals have complained of feeling 'forgotten about' amid the foul smells and infestations of giant rats dubbed 'Squeaky Blinders'. In June Birmingham bin workers voted to continue industrial action - meaning the strikes could go on until December. The council has paid £8 million to keep a skeleton service run by agency staff in place while strikes continue. The council - which effectively declared itself bankrupt in 2023 - has been blamed for also mishandling an equal pay dispute. The walkout began in January over pay cuts of up to £8,000 impacting around 400 workers who are either former waste recycling collection officers or bin lorry drivers. It has so far paid out almost £1.1 billion after losing a landmark case in 2012 launched after it gave bonuses to refuse collectors and street cleaners but not to cleaners and caterers - roles typically held by women. It still has to find more money to settle further claims but insists its debt is 'unrelated to the need to modernise the waste service and to eliminate any future equal pay risk'.
South Wales Argus
21 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
'Newport's Queensway is full of multimillion-pound flops'
First up, Admiral House. After building works were completed in May 2014, it was sold for £20 million. Nine years later, Admiral Insurance shockingly left the building, with its employees working remotely from home. In 2023, it was reported, the building was up for sale at £14.9 million (around £5 million less than its owner paid for it). It was sold a year later to Admiral Insurance, however the building presently sits empty - 'available to rent'. Behind the railway station, we have the former Royal Mail 'Sorting Office' on Mill Street. In 2018, plans were approved for Garrison Barclay Estates to redevelop the building into approximately 50,000 square foot of 'Grade A' office space. A £12 million council loan was provided to assist, however the building presently sits empty - 'available to rent'. Up next is the Cambrian Centre. Scarborough Group International were behind ambitious plans to redevelop the so-called Station Quarter area. The project included another huge office block, next to Admiral House. In 2013, a contract worth around £14 million was awarded to SDC Construction to complete the building work. Planning permission was granted in 2016, however construction has yet to start? Then there's the old Railway Station. It was built in 1928 by Great Western Railway (GWR). This was converted into an office block after the new station opened in 2010. It's since housed the council's Information Station and later an 'Innovation Station'. The latter was part of a £1.89 million project partly funded by Newport Council. Is this building now empty also? What of the controversial new Railway Station? In the past it has been described as one of Britain's ugliest buildings. In 2013, the BBC claimed the revamp cost £22 million, including £13 million from the Welsh Government. Many have questioned the need for the new station. Could the former Railway Station building have been internally remodelled at a fraction of the cost? Finally, what of the new walkway bridge that connects Mill Street to the Queensway i.e. the Devon Place bridge. It opened last year at a whopping cost of £10.5million. A bridge was needed, but £10.5 million? There's been an obscene amount of money spent on development projects around the Queensway area. What have we got? Empty office blocks? We now understand Transport for Wales wants to blow another £40 million (estimated) on redeveloping the Queensway, including the Old Green roundabout. It feels like throwing good money after bad. How about investing money on our City Centre where it's really needed i.e. revamping Commercial Street, High Street and Charles Street. Mike Enea is a Conservative campaigner and blogger. These views are his.
