Oundle Chronicle PAGE 3 PAGE 10 PAGE 15 PAGE 18 Established 1991 Best Newspaper 2016 Shine School Media Awards Winter 2018-19 Issue 49 ENC draft Local Plan raises objections to housing plans The East Northamptonshire vigorously objected to the ENC County planning authority has sub- Have Your Say Local Plan, which they feel has not mitted for consultation a new Local Residents must express their views about the ENC draft Local Plan by taken into consideration the draft Plan that will have a far reaching 17 December. The online link can be found on the ENC website titled Neighbourhood Plan that was impact on developments within “Development Plan Documents”. approved by Oundle residents and Oundle, and on the Oundle Neigh- Or visit the survey page directly at: submitted to the ENC for approval bourhood Plan. The Oundle Town www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/LocalPlanP2. in April 2018. Council have strongly objected to The council’s Neighbourhood the ENC plan. Plan made allocations for the The ENC’s proposed new dis- Oundle. As of 2018, 384 new houses dwellings to a site on the Stoke required 300 houses across seven trict-wide Local Plan Part 2 will re- have already been completed, and Doyle Road past the cemetery; 130 sites that they felt better served place the Rural North, Oundle and 89 houses have received planning houses to a site at the end of Cot- environmental concerns and issues Thrapston Plan that was adopted permission or commitments to terstock Road; and 100 houses at St relating to housing density and in 2011. The new plan is currently grant permission. The plan identi- Christopher’s Drive. traffic management. In particular in a consultation period that runs fies a requirement for "a residual" Each site will be expected to pro- they object to the ENC plan’s pro- until 17 December. If adopted, the of 172 to 242 dwellings, and out- vide a housing mix which includes posed development on Cotterstock plan will form the basis on which lines three locations for develop- provision for older persons and Road, adjacent to Oundle Prima- decisions about future applications ments where a total of 300 houses affordable housing. A contribution ry School, which has a housing are made. can be built to meet the “outstand- towards the proposed extension to density that far exceeds what the The plan covers a period from ing requirement during the remain- Oundle Cemetery at Stoke Doyle Neighbourhood Plan allowed for, 2011 to 2031, and identifies a der of the plan period”. Road will be required. raising concerns about proximity to requirement for 645 new houses in The ENC plan allocates 70 The Oundle Town Council have Continued on page 2 St Peter's spire provides lookout for peregrine falcon Funding for North Bridge means repairs can begin Stella Simpson take into account potential archae- Amelia Milne ological work, as well as traffic After intense lobbying from management during construction Tom Pursglove MP, Philip Amps and access to the site. at Oundle Business Association In October 2014, the bridge was and the Oundle Town Council, assessed by the Northamptonshire funds amounting to £1.3m to repair Highways in order to determine North Bridge have been allocated its load capacity. Since the 2014 to NCC from central government. assessment, the bridge’s struc- Early projections were that ture has been monitored through repair work would start in the next ‘Moniteye’, a system that accurately few months, but Northamptonshire measures the structural movement County Council is now projecting and wirelessly transmits the data, that work will start “in the latter reviewed daily by Northampton- part of 2019”. shire Highways. This data iden- Tom Pursglove has received tified the deteriorating condition, assurances from the Environmental drawing immediate attention to the Agency that they will prioritise the need for the repair and strengthen- Flood Risk Activity permit that is ing of 7 of its 13 arch spans. For the necessary for work to begin with- past four years, Northamptonshire out delays. Listed Building Con- Highways have been aware of the sent will also be required from East issue and the need to reduce heavy Northamptonshire. traffic but they took no action until North Bridge is a Grade II listed March 2018. During this time, thou- Photo by Barny Dillarstone structure with 13 arch spans. It was sands of heavy vehicles passed over Erica Pascoe originally rebuilt in 1571 and again the bridge, potentially causing even Birdwatchers enjoyed a rare local sighting of a peregrine falcon when one was in 1835. It was widened in 1912. more damage. spotted in Oundle on November 7th. Strengthening the bridge needs to Continued on page 4 Continued on page 2 2 Oundle Chronicle ISSUE 49 - 2018 The Local newspapers under threat Earlier this month, the the industry, Facebook is looking credibility for the news they Chronicle regional newspaper publisher into funding a scheme that would publish, and safeguard readers Johnston Press was delisted from invest in training reporters. The against a broad brushstroke style of Team the London Stock Exchange after BBC has also pledged funds to online news that does not engage its market value crashed from pay for local reporters to serve the directly with the community. £1.4bn in 2005 to £4m. Among the regional press. The Oundle Chronicle has been newspapers owned by Johnston Nationally, news organisations published twice a year since 1991, Press are our regional papers, the are also facing challenging condi- and is researched and written Northampton Evening Telegraph tions with the loss of print advertis- by young journalists-in-training. and the Peterborough Telegraph. ing. Some newspapers, such as The Although the paper is modest by The future of the business remains Times have successfully introduced most standards, its ambitions are uncertain. pay walls, and have retained their those of any newspaper: to inform Local newspapers have seen readers. The Guardian is one of its readers about news and events, readership and advertising reve- the few papers that continues to and to celebrate the people who nues slashed by the rise of tech offer free online content, but has live and work in our community. successfully solicited voluntary THE TEAM giants such as Facebook and We are also conscious of the histor- Google. On the one hand, these contributions in a “reading funding ical record that a newspaper offers model”. Last month it reported that Sam Bakhshalian tech companies have helped for future historians. it has received funding from over Giovanni Bernardi generate traffic to newspapers, The Chronicle greatly values one million readers from around Philipa Bourne but on the other hand, they have the encouraging feedback from our the world, and is one of the top two Patrick Boyle benefited from free use of newspa- readers. That the paper continues to most read newspapers in the world. Johnny Capstick-Dale per content and at the same time, be viable in these troubled times for Communities cannot afford to Giorgio Capuzzello have stripped newspapers of vital newspapers is entirely due to our lose newspapers; they provide a Lily Hunter advertising revenue as classified advertisers, many of which regu- refined engagement with local Jerry Li advertising has moved online. larly feature in every issue. We are issues attributable to journalists and Grace Maund In an initiative that has been grateful for their ongoing support. editors who establish standards of Joseph Meisner viewed with some cynicism from Co-written by Patrick Boyle Amelia Milne Archie Parkinson Peregrine falcon in Oundle ENC local plan Erica Pascoe continued from page 1 Alfie Peterson continued from page 1 black 'moustache' that contrasts Tom Pilsbury with the white face. the sewage works and the primary The first to catch sight of the Stella Simpson As an apex predator, it is swift school. falcon was Noah Wood, a teacher Hannah Wakeford and agile in flight; its phenomenal Glapthorn Parish Council have at Oundle School. “I saw it mob- Lily Wolfson speed makes it an awesome aerial also raised objections to the pro- bing a buzzard in the air over the hunter that dives onto birds on posed Cotterstock Road devel- Gascoigne car park. It then flew out the wing, killing them in flight. opment, which crosses into their of sight but I could hear it calling The dive is called a stoop and can parish boundaries. The Glapthorn and tracked it to the church spire, generate speeds of around 200mph, Neighbourhood Plan was approved knowing that it favours high, pre- making it the fastest-moving crea- last year, and explicitly excluded cipitous vantage points to roost on ture on earth. this development from within its and hunt from.” Pigeons seem to be its favourite borders. Over a period of many days, prey. Oundle's falcon has been seen Among the sites identified in the bird-watchers stationed themselves eating them on platforms of the Oundle Neighbourhood Plan, were in the churchyard with long lens church spire, where it plucks and two sites that offered the benefits of cameras, powerful telescopes and devours them. Mr Wood said there substantial green space, including a binoculars to get a close-up view. has been some debate as to whether new cricket ground. Peregrines can often be found it is a male or female, as they are The council have pointed out above rocky sea cliffs and upland hard to tell apart. that the only benefits offered by areas throughout the UK in the Peregrines are no longer un- the three identified sites in the common in Northamptonshire, ENC plan were contributions to the but have never been recorded in cemetery.