Issue 25 - September 2026
NENE Herald
In and Around the Wellingborough & Rushden Area
Rushden’s Classic Car Show Thousands of people came to enjoy the spectacle of Rushden’s Annual Classic Car Show held in Hall Park on Sunday 2nd of August. Around 400 cars and 50 vintage motorcycles were on display. The entries in the Show were judged in 5 categories, along with an award for the car the Mayor chose. The winners were: * Pre-War (pre1939) MG Midget Anthony Crowther * Post-War (1940-1969) Triumph TR5 Paul Robinson * Modern Classic (post 1970) Ford Cortina 1600E Barry Norman * Best in Show Fairthorpe Electron Dave Bomstead * Motorbike Kawasaki 500cc Dave Silcock * Mayor’s Choice MG YA (1951)
Musical entertainment on-stage in the Walled Garden featured The Most who gave a brilliant performance, with rock-and-roll hits from across the decades. There were around 60 stalls for companies and charities as well as a variety of food stalls. The Show was organised by Rushden Historical Transport Society with the support of Conservativecontrolled Rushden Town Council. The main sponsors for the show were Kingtools, Kwikfit, Snowdon Homes, Steve Horsley Motors, and D & L Electrical & Fire Protection.
Chicken Farm Debated at Rushden Town Council Last month, Nene Herald described a proposal for a chicken broiler farm in South Rushden. This plan includes: * * * * * * * *
Six poultry units Fifteen grain silos Three crumb feed silos Three food blending houses A pumping house Two gas storage tanks An electricity substation Plus assorted supported buildings
On Tuesday 28th July, the Planning Consultative Committee of Rushden Town Council (RTC) met to discuss the planning application. Around 25 members of the public attended, and Mr. Roger Barnes of Newton Bromswold spoke to highlight the animal welfare issues of having 21 chickens per square metre. RTC’s Planning Consultative Committee voted to object to the planning application on the following grounds: 1) The proposal conflicts with local and national planning policies protecting the countryside, landscape character, biodiversity, heritage assets and residential amenity. 2) The development is disproportionately large for its rural location and would cause significant visual harm. The proposed landscaping would take many years to become effective and even then, would not adequately mitigate the development. 3) There are concerns regarding ammonia emissions, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), odour from poultry housing and manure spreading, and the cumulative impacts alongside the existing nearby Biogen Anaerobic Digestion facility. 4) The Manure Management Plan does not appear to be a sustainable method of disposal. There are concerns regarding nutrient pollution, groundwater contamination, impacts on nearby watercourses and excessive odour from manure spreading.
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5) The ecological assessment is inadequate. Insufficient information was provided regarding protected species, habitat loss, long-term ecological management and mitigation for the wildlife that would be displaced by the development. There were also concerns regarding impacts on designated European wildlife sites. 6) The Transport Assessment is outdated and fails to account for cumulative traffic arising from: a) the Rushden East Sustainable Urban Extension; b) Bellway Homes developments south of the Town; c) continued growth within Rushden; and d) the Universal Studios development near Bedford. RTC therefore requested updated traffic modelling to assess the cumulative impact on the A6 and surrounding highway network. 7) The proposal would result in the permanent loss of Grade 2 agricultural land, which RTC believes should be protected. 8) The scheme would introduce significant artificial lighting into an otherwise dark rural landscape, adversely affecting both local character and wildlife. 9) Questions remain regarding the Environmental Permit submitted in support of the application. RTC believes these issues should be resolved before any planning decision is made. RTC’s objections will be forwarded to North Northants Council. (NNC) It is expected that the planning applications will go before the NNC Planning Committee at some point in the future.
Dog Control Order North Northants Council (NNC) has launched a further consultation on extending an existing dog control Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). · Additional dogs-on-leads requirements at Barnwell Country Park, including around Mill Lake and selected central pathways. · Additional controls at Sywell Country Park. · Dogs to be kept on leads within some country park car parks. · New dog exclusion zones within some Wildlife Refuge Areas and Educational Wild Zones. · A proposal to designate the recreation and play area at Pytchley Recreation Ground as a dog exclusion zone. The consultation will run until 14 September 2026 and can be accessed via the council’s consultation hub. Alternatively, you can respond by emailing: · envprotection@northnorthants.gov.uk or · by post to: North Northamptonshire Council, PSPO for Dog Control extension consultation, Environmental Protection Swanspool House Doddington Road Wellingborough, Northants NN8 1BP
Aim High Festival On Saturday 19th September, the “Aim High” Festival 2026 will take place at Saffron Road Park in Higham Ferrers. It will run from 12noon until 8pm, and offers a variety of free activities, entertainment and family fun. It is being organised by Ailsa's Aim, a Northamptonshire charity that provides free care packs, RADAR keys, wellbeing support, yoga sessions and respite opportunities to cancer patients and neonatal families. Entry is free, parking is free and all entertainment and activities funded by Ailsa's Aim are free. Sara Whatley, CEO and Co-Founder of Ailsa's Aim, said: "Aim High Festival is everything Ailsa's Aim stands for. It is about bringing people together, reducing isolation, creating opportunities and making sure nobody is excluded because they cannot afford to take part.” "The response from the community has been absolutely incredible. Local businesses, volunteers and community groups have rallied around us and helped turn an idea into something far bigger than we ever imagined.” Anyone wishing to support the festival can donate via: https://www.justgiving.com/page/aimhigh2026
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Crematorium Supports Charities When someone is cremated, there may sometimes be pieces of metal left behind in the ashes, (tooth fillings, orthopaedic implants, etc.) With the explicit consent of bereaved families, these remnants can be collected and sold. The Nene Valley Crematorium does this and donates the receipts to local charities. Since this scheme has been running, a total of £20,667.00 has been donated. The most recent tranche is £5,667.00 donated to Your Local Air Ambulance. It pleases many families that their loss is some else’s gain. It’s like donating your body, after death, to medical research or for organ transplant. The Nene Valley Crematorium is operated by North Northants Council (NNC), but it was constructed by the Borough Council of Wellingborough (BCW). Ownership of the facility was transferred to NNC when the BCW was merged with several other councils to form the unitary authority.
“Community” Review A Community Governance Review (CGR) is a process whereby parishes, their wards and their boundaries are updated. North Northamptonshire is currently going through CGR and the residents have been invited to comment on the proposed changes. Most of the changes are minor, and several are “cleaning up” some of the unintended changes made during the last NNC boundary review (in 2021). If you wish to comment on the proposals you can do so in any of three ways: • Via NN’C’s website : https://northnorthants.citizenspace.com/governance/cgr-stage-2/ * Via email to elections@northnorthants.gov.uk • Or you can write to Head of Electorial Services, North Northamptonshire Council, Municipal Offices, Bowling Green Road, Kettering, NN15 7QX. The consultation closes on Sunday 4 October 2026. PAGE 4
Corby Recycling Fire In 2016, Northants County Council (NCC) adopted a “Minerals and Waste Plan”. This Plan codified the principle that waste processing should be done in the “Urban Spine” of Northamptonshire. At the time, there was little public consultation on the implications.
Last year, there was a major fire at the Monoworld plant in Rushden, which produced smoke plumes that could be seen as far away as Essex. There has now been a fire in a waste plant in Corby. Although not as big as the Rushden fire, the smoke was visible 20 miles away in Peterborough and Higham Ferrers.
That principle is still in force today. The effect of this is that waste processing plants are mostly located in either Daventry, Northampton, Wellingborough, Rushden, Kettering or Corby. In the decade since the Plan was adopted, there have been regular objections to the location of the waste plants. Objections have been for multiple reasons. *
Smell
*
Fire Hazard
*
Fly Swarms
*
Risk of Rodent infestations
*
Excess HGV traffic
The Minerals and Waste Plan is due for an update.
In the early days, the objections mostly centred on smell and traffic. However, in recent years, fire hazard and fly swarms have become more prominent.
It will be interesting to see if Reform-led North Northamptonshire Council supports the retention of the “Urban Spine” principle.
Medical Land Sale When North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) was created, it inherited many assets from its predecessors. One that it inherited from the Borough Council of Wellingborough (BCW) was a plot of land on the Park Farm Industrial Estate. NNC has now decided that the plot is surplus to requirements, and they have decided to sell it. If the sale goes through, it will be sold to the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group (UHN). Their aim is for a community medical facility to be built on the site, subject to planning consent being granted. Polly Grimmett, Director of Strategy at UHN, said: "Our ambition for Wellingborough is to create a modern healthcare hub that brings more care closer to home for local people.” "By bringing together diagnostics and elective surgery in an accessible community location, we can deliver faster diagnosis, quicker treatment and more joined-up care, while easing pressure on our hospital sites and helping tackle health inequalities across Northamptonshire."
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Rushden Road Chaos During most of August, Rushden’s town centre has been a nightmare for motorists. The main road through the Town has been closed (see attached photo). That alone would have caused chaos, but it was only one of multiple main routes that have been blocked: · Higham Road (most of month) · John Clark Way (3rd Aug to 28th Aug) · High Street (3rd Aug to 28th Aug) · Station Approach (3rd Aug to 28th Aug)
Effectively, the centre of the Town was completely inaccessible for road users for almost the whole of August. This may well have encouraged shoppers to go elsewhere. Hopefully, they will eventually return, but that is not guaranteed.
· Station Road (3rd Aug to 28th Aug) · Shirley Road (3rd Aug to 28th Aug) · Park Road (3rd Aug to 4th Sept) · Harborough Road (3rd Aug to 4th Sept)
It is not clear what the impact will have been on the turnover of the Town’s shops. However, every cloud has a silver lining.
· Wymington Road (part of month) · Newton Road (passable, but with long delays) · Irthlingborough Bridge (extended to 29th August) · Wellingborough Road (beginning of month) · Bedford Road (17th Aug to 18th Aug)
Some motorists will prefer to shop online to avoid the chaos. There will therefore be a reduction in footfall in the Town Centre. This in turn will give us a clue as to how much Town Centre trade will be lost, if Reform-led North Northants Council goes ahead with its plan to charge for parking.
· Grove Road (6th Aug) · Northampton Road (6th Aug) · Avenue Road (7th Aug)
Food Waste Collection For roughly a decade, food waste has routinely been collected by the “Council” in East Northamptonshire (Rushden, Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough, Raunds, Ringstead, Thrapston, etc) The pattern was set by East Northamptonshire Council (ENC) prior to its incorporation into North Northamptonshire Council (NNC). NNC has now extended the service to the rest of the District. Food waste bins are being delivered to households in Wellingborough and Kettering. (The photo shows what to look out for.) In the Autumn in these new areas, NNC will start collecting food waste left by the curb-side in the new mini green bins. PAGE 6
Pothole Crisis Every road-user in North Northants has noticed that potholes have become endemic on our roads. Many drivers have suffered burst tyres as a result. The wet winter was blamed for the spread of potholes, but we are now in the hottest, driest summer for decades, yet the problem seems to have got worse, not better. Last year, Reform UK took control of North Northants Council (NNC), with a promise to ‘fix all potholes’ Unfortunately, Reform-led NNC has been unable to keep their promise. * Repairs at Record Low The number of road repairs is at a record llow. In June 2026, there were only 1,094 repairs, and July is likely to be under 700. Both months saw the fewest potholes fixed in a single month for years. * Slow Repairs NNC is supposed to fix P3 and P4 (minor) defects within 28 days, and 90 days respectively. The goal is to fix 90% of these faults in the target time (28 or 90 days) In both March and April 2026, only 70% of these defects were repaired in time. In May, it was even worse, at 56%. By contrast, last year, in June-December, the average figure was 93.31%. The accompanying charts show vividly how pothole repairs have slowed down.
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WHAT’S ON in the Area
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Philip Wright’s “Valley of the Nene” Philip Wright is a local writer and poet. He writes about the place that he knows and where he lives, namely the Valley of the Nene and the Greenway His recent epic poem spans the valley of the Nene from Northampton to Thrapston. In temporal terms, it travels from the Bronze Age to the present, covering the Romans, the Victorian railwaymen and the recent past. It describes the changing seasons, and tells stories about each, using the local dialect in many places like “kent” and “ums” meaning “can’t” and “homes”. At the band club at the end, he bemoans the sullying of the river with effluent from all the new homes, which brings it up to the present time. It is illustrated by local artist, Maie R. King, with a number of other local contributors. There are references also to other local poets like Philip Larkin and John Clare and the end piece says that it emulates poets like T S Eliot and FG Lorea. In recent years, epic poems have not been fashionable. However, Homer’s “The Odyssey” is currently a blockbuster in the cinemas. The movie, directed by Oscar-winning director Sir Christopher Nolan, is receiving rave reviews. So maybe the tide has turned.
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News in Brief NNC Overspend Reform-led North Northants Council is forecasting an overspend for the fiscal year 2026/2027 of £14.962 million in its General Fund. Of the six directorates that were reported, three (Place & Economy, Children and Education, Adults Health Partnerships and Housing) were rated as “RED”. This is slightly embarrassing for the leadership, as Reform UK were elected on the promise to get NNC spending under control. The report to NNC’s Executive Committee on 11th August had even more bad news for the Administration. NNC is assessed on its performance on a range of targets. The results of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were reported at the meeting, and 25% were performing below target.
The Nene Herald is a community-based newspaper for Wellingborough, Rushden, Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough and the surrounding villages. The Herald is free and can be found on the Internet at: https://issuu.com/nene_herald Alternatively, you can have it emailed to you. If you wish to receive free copies of the latest issue of Nene Herald, send an email requesting a free copy to: Nene_Herald@yahoo.com If you no longer wish to receive free copies of the newspaper, simply email us and ask to ‘unsubscribe’. "Permission is hereby granted to republish the material in this issue of Nene Herald. Attribution is not necessary. Nene Herald is not affiliated to any political party.”
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