Northamptonshire firefighters have been presented with an award for their roles in dealing with the aftermath of a collision in which eight people died.

Chief Fire Officer Jason Thelwell, from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS), visited the county this week to make the presentation to Red Watch Mereway crew members and Group Manager Barry Mullan who formed the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) attendance on the day of the crash.

The three-vehicle collision, which involved two lorries and a minibus, happened shortly before 3.15am on Saturday, August 26, 2017, close to Newport Pagnell, near junction 14 of the M1. Eight people died in the incident and a further four were seriously injured.

Thames Valley Police, Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were among the multiple different services to assist at the tragic scene.

Chief Fire Officer Thelwell said: “This was one of the most harrowing events and was described by the trial judge as the most serious collision in the UK for 26 years. The actions carried out by the fire and rescue staff on the day were exemplary. The crews witnessed and worked in extreme conditions and I salute them all for their dedication.”

GM Mullan said: “This was a very challenging and distressing scene. Looking back, Red Watch Mereway crew and I were proud to be part of the larger emergency response from Fire, Police and medical services. Between us all we saved the lives of four people and provided as much dignity and respect to those who died as possible. That is recognition enough.”

In addition to the commendation from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, NFRS Chief Fire Officer Darren Dovey also used the opportunity to present a commendation to the crew on behalf of the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire. This was originally presented to the service recently at an event at Aylesbury Crown Court.

CFO Dovey said: “Sadly our firefighters at NFRS attend road traffic collisions regularly so it is very much part of our usual work, but this collision on the M1 was among the most serious we have ever encountered.

“All of the NFRS staff who attended this incident deserve this commendation, which recognises the teamwork that went into carrying out a harrowing, seven hour rescue operation.

“We always hope never to have to encounter this type of scene, but I am so proud that, even in the most demanding circumstances, our crews carried out their professional duties with such a high level of calm, dedication and compassion.

“Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones and family members in the collision that day.”

A 25-year year to create a heritage centre in Northamptonshire has taken a step forward.

A planning application has been put to the borough council to build a visitor centre on the remains of a dismantled railway embankment near Cogenhoe.

It is the first stage towards creating a new heritage centre that would be home to Neolithic flint tools, artefacts from the Battle of Waterloo and the first radio ever heard in Cogenhoe.

Dr Steven Hollowell, who is helping spearhead the project, said funding to build the centre has so far been secured through grants, car boot sales, steam rallies and vintage jumbles.

He said: "It has taken over 25 years. However, Northampton Borough Council has been very patient and supportive of our application for full planning permission and we feel that we have reached a major milestone.

"We bought this site about 10 years ago and we have been busy raising the necessary funds."

When complete, the centre will be used for education and will be built to "green" standards by using solar panels.

If approved, it could take less than a year to build the first phase.

The "vast" collection includes 17th Century household tools, items from the Battle of the Somme, a tractor from 1925 and some of Northamptonshire's earliest hand-made radios.

A Northampton cricket team has organised a national tournament next week in aid of their captain's poorly son.

Teams from across the country will turn out to support Phoenix Northampton Cricket Club captain Dawn Paulose, who's little boy Ronav was diagnosed with a rare liver disease when he was only three-weeks-old.

When early treatment for the disease - biliary atresia - were unsuccessful, Dawn gave his son part of his own liver in a life-saving transplant.

Now three-years-old, Ronav is making progress but still requires night feeding through a medical tube and will take lifelong medication.

In support, Dawn's team has helped organise the School of Business London Phoenix Northampton All Uk Cricket Tournament 2018 to raise money for Children's Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) for next weekend (July 22).

Team manager Rosbin Rajan said: "It’s been a difficult few years for Dawn and his wife Tina. We know that coming to play cricket has helped Dawn and Tina through some tough times lately. Most of his family are in India so as his ‘cricket family’ we wanted to do something constructive for the charity which means so much to him.”

The tournament will take place on July 22 (Sunday) at Wellingborough Old Grammarians Memorial Sports Field.

As well as all of Phoenix Northampton club members, teams from around the country taking part, some of whom will be bringing IPL and first-class cricketers.

There will also be all day entertainment, food, a licensed bar, live music and DJ, a bouncy castle, competitions, dancers and a party with the winners after the final.

The cricket tournament is free to attend although guests are welcome to buy a ticket for the prize draw with prizes sponsored by Hillon Resorts India.

For further information about the event contact Rosbin Rajan on 0742 857 1013.

A JustGiving page in aid of the event has also been set up.

Northamptonshire's drivers fear there will be "more accidents, more slips and more jams" this winter after the county council axed almost 500 roads from its main gritting routes.

In a move to save some £475,000, the county council will no longer grit a huge list of roads during anything less than "adverse" weather - which typically means accumulating snow on roads.

But drivers and bus companies across the county have slammed the cuts and say it will cause chaos on the roads.

One reader, Luke Badharee, wrote on Facebook: "This is a very risky policy. Expect more accident more strain on the NHS [and] people slipping over on the pavement or possibly being run over... Hope the council are prepared to take responsibility for all this."

A county council spokesman says the cuts were "a tough decision" brought on by the council’s ongoing financial difficulties and that the roads will still be gritted when snow conditions are declared.

But bus company Stagecoach is also concerned how its services will be hit this winter.

A spokesman said: "During the last bout of snow, our team managed to keep our buses running through extreme conditions. This was in part due to the fact that key roads were gritted.

"We are therefore extremely disappointed [and] will need to evaluate our services at the time to assess the safety of running them during icy weather but would urge the council to reconsider."

Parents have pointed out that many of the axed routes are near primary schools and nurseries and will cause "chaos" on the school run.

Reader Emma-Jane Hartley wrote: "Let's just hope we don't have a big freeze. If the weather is bad, the repercussions will end up costing the council far more than they're looking to save."

The precautionary [priority] network - which the 497 roads have been removed from - will be gritted whenever there is a forecast temperature of 0.5C over a 24-hour period.

The complete adverse network will be gritted ahead of a high chance of snow or if temperatures are not expected to rise above zero for 48 hours.

Freelance journalist Alice Whitehead of Far Cotton launched a campaign in January urging the county council to maintain and manage trees in the area to make it a more attractive and healthy place to live.

After galvanising support she presented a 313-name petition to Northamptonshire County Council in March asking the authority to consider replanting the lost trees - but to no avail.

After months of no action she has hand-made six trees out of recycled cardboard boxes, which she already owned, and placed them where former trees used to be in Penrhyn Road ahead of a Street Tree Tea Party on Sunday (July 15) from 2pm-4pm to raise money for the Woodland Trust.

She said: "I'm putting them in the spots where the trees used to be as a symbolic gesture.

"I think it raises awareness of the street trees. Again, it's easy for them to be over looked with the council being cash strapped. It's a low priority for them.

"When they are deciding the environmental budget I would like them to be of importance."

When Alice moved to Penrhyn Road in 2012 she said there was about 25 trees lining the roads but Far Cotton's tree-stock has gradually dwindled over the years as deteriorating vegetation has been removed.

Now there is only 12 on Penryhn Road, with just one left in St Leonards Road.

A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said: “There are instances where we as the highways authority have to remove a tree for safety if it is diseased or causing structural damage to a nearby property, and it may not be replaced if it is in an unsuitable location.

“Where a tree is taken down the council will look to replace a tree elsewhere but due to maintenance liabilities we do try and ensure that a replacement tree is provided on non-highway land wherever possible.

“We also continue to work with organisations such as Woodland Trust who have funded trees on the highway and over the past few years we have worked together to enable the planting of more than 150,000 trees in the county.”

Northampton Borough Council maintain the highway trees on behalf of the county council.

The High Court hearing into Northampton Borough Council's claim against Cardoza family members has finished, with a judgement expected in September.

The council is suing former Cobblers boss David Cardoza, his wife Christine and his father Anthony over their part in what they say amounts to breaches of the loan agreement made in 2013.

On Friday, Judge Simon Baker heard from the defence at Birmingham's High Court.

Mohammed Zaman QC, for Anthony Cardoza, told the court the claim against his client was "highly artificial".

He also said the case was like Hamlet but without the prince because Howard Grossman, director of 1st Land Ltd, had "managed to stay out of it".

"The claim is highly artificial," said Mr Zaman.

"Anthony Cardoza is not the villain of the piece.

"Overall Mr Anthony Cardoza was the single largest personal creditor of NTFC.

"Without Mr Anthony Cardoza's support from 2002 NTFC could not have continued to trade.

"He advanced to NTFC a net sum at its highest of in excess of £6.5m.

"And, when he ended his long-term relationship with NTFC on November 25, 2015, he wrote off - even on the council's case - £4,290,048 and Mr David Cardoza wrote off £1,00,307."

Mr Zaman told Judge Simon Baker the borough council's attitude to the case "gives some cause for concern" and that former leader Mary Markham blamed Anthony's son David Cardoza for everything that had gone wrong at the Cobblers.

Emma Edhem, representing David and his wife Christina, said: "For years David Cardoza would have worked free of charge, ploughed huge quantities of money into the business and if he sought to take some of that back, to extinguish at least a small part of that debt, then the claimants want even that."

She told the court the case had only been brought by the borough council to deflect from "internal issues" and "political turmoil".

The court heard that David Cardoza was owed £2.122m by the football club and that he had taken £250,000 from it "in lieu of salary" - an agreement Mr Cardoza is said to have had with the club.

This was done in "rough" instalments, which would add up to the £250,000 over time, the court heard.

Mrs Edhem said her client would transfer money "when he needed it" and would not pay income tax or National Insurance because it came off his directors' loan instead.

This, said Mrs Edhem, was therefore of benefit to the club.

Part of the case includes the transferring of David Cardoza's house into his wife's name, which the borough council claims was fraudulent.

In an effort to convince the court the house should not make up part of David Cardoza's assets, Mrs Edhem said it was a personal loan between husband and wife - not an attempt to deceive creditors.

"David Cardoza maintains that it was a promise that he made to his wife who was much aggrieved," said Mrs Edhem.

"There was a great deal of tension between the couple arising from the fact that David Cardoza had on two occasions put charges onto the house arising from his business not from the couple.”

Mrs Edhem added: "Christina put the house in her name. She made the arrangements."

Some of the evidence put forward by Northampton Borough Council included emails sent and received by the Cardozas.

Mrs Edhem said: "When emails are written they are not written to precision and there may be things forgotten in emails many years later.

"So when [NBC] presents those emails and says there is only one conclusion to be drawn it’s my submission it’s a disservice to both Cardozas."

Concluding her defence summary, Mrs Edhem said her client "loved the club very much" and he had "put his heart and soul into it" before selling it for £1.

Northampton man’s tools, that helped make models for Churchill, handed over to D-Day museum

Hartwell resident, Stephen Masters, visited the Musée du débarquemant in Arromanches to present curators with tools that created part of the model of the Mulberry Harbour for Winston Churchill.

The museum is home to the model of the Mulberry harbour, the remains of the real one can clearly be seen on the beach and out to sea from the museum.

Stephen’s grandfather, Gordon Joseph Taylor, worked for Bassett Lowke, a Northampton model and toy maker, who during the war built scale models for the Admiralty.

With the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy happening next June, it was only fitting that these tools could be offered to the museum for exhibition.

Gordon had started at Bassett Lowke in 1928, left in 1939 to become an auxiliary fireman, but received a letter from the Admiralty to return to Bassett Lowke to make models for the war effort.

He made everything from ships for the Royal Navy and Royal Airforce to Bailey bridges for the Royal Engineers but the most top secret was the Mulberry Harbour.

Gordon was one of only three men making the model, each one making a different part and none knowing what the other two were making.

He even met Churchill twice when he came to Northampton to see how the model was progressing.

This secretive work led to the production construction, concealment and delivery of an artificial harbour all the way from the UK to the Normandy coast that allowed thousands of men, machines and tons of equipment to re-take the beaches of Northern France and begin the liberation of Europe in 1944.

The Museum will now are expand displays to include these tools and other artifacts.

The final floral touches were added to the town centre this week for Northampton’s entry into the East Midlands and Britain in Bloom competitions.

A planted carpet display tribute to local football hero Walter Tull and a geranium display in Abington Street are jsut two of the centre pieces decorating the town centre this week.

Over 30 community groups, 10 schools, 11 businesses, 17 residents and two allotments have played a part in this year’s competition to brighten up neighbourhoods, gardens, parks and community buildings with floral and planted displays.

Councillor Mike Hallam, cabinet member for environment and chair of the Northampton Bloom Committee, said: “We’re extremely proud of the hard work that has been undertaken by community groups, schools, businesses and residents from across the borough for this year’s competition.

“Our annual entry is part of our commitment to investing in Northampton and making it a place that people can enjoy, and we are looking forward to showing judges a selection of the wonderful floral displays which are brightening up the town.”

The Cobbler’s Last in Abington Street is now decorated with geraniums, provided by Cramden Nurseries, while the Guildhall features a planted carpet display that uses 1000 alternathera plants to form a tribute to local football hero, Walter Tull.

Over the past month, Northampton Borough Council has also installed 350 hanging baskets on business premises, bus stops and lamp posts, along with barrier baskets along main traffic routes and large floral stands dotted around the town centre.

Judges visited the town on Friday (July 13) and will visit again on August 6.

A piece of a Concorde found in a car boot sale will go to auction in Northamptonshire next week for an estimated £4,000.

A 'gasket plate' from the iconic Concorde droop nose cone is to be sold next week at auctioneers Humbert & Ellis Ltd, in Whittlebury.

The plate, measuring 124cm x 100cm was removed from Concorde number 216 - known in the day as Alpha Foxtrot or ‘Foxy’ - when it sustained damage in a collision with a hangar door at Heathrow airport in 1995.

Concorde 216 was the last of the seven British Concorde built for commercial service.

In its day, 216 flew 18,257 hours with 6045 landings. It flew 5,639 supersonic flights.

Now, the orginal plate from the nose cone, which turned up at a car boot sale in 2008, is expected to sell for between £4,000 and £6,000.

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert said: "This is an extremely rare and iconic piece of aviation history and to hold something that has flown supersonically hundreds of times is amazing."

The plate is the part of hydraulic system which allows the nose to be moved from the cockpit. The aircraft would never have been certified if such a system was not included as the pilot would not have been able to see to land.

Concorde 216 was deregistered in 2004 and is now displayed at Aerospace Bristol. Its last flight was from Heathrow to Filton which included the iconic flight over Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

The sale takes place July 17 and can be viewed online at the Humbert and Ellis website.

Humbert & Ellis sold an unused Concorde nose cone in February 2018 for £63,000

After impressing in training and in a a couple of pre-season friendlies, the 17-year-old has been promoted from the youth team group by boss Dean Austin and travellled with the 22-man squad to Alicante on Saturday.

The latest in what seems to be a lengthening line of products from the club's academy system, Northampton lad Williams now has a chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team squad for the season ahead.

"I have been really, really impressed with the young man," said Town boss Dean Austin.

"He worked phenomenally well in the first week when I watched some of the youth team training, and he really impressed me.

"He then came with the group last week to Brackley and St Albans, and I thought he gave a really, really good account of himself.

"He has come into the training group, worked really hard, done exceptionally well, and he deserved his call up."

Williams joins his Town youth team-mates Morgan Roberts and Sean Whaler on the trip to Spain, the pair having signed first team contracts in May, while other youth team graduates Shaun McWilliams and James Goff have also travelled.

"We have a growing influence of homegrown players from our academy in the first team squad and that is good to see," said Austin.

The fact the club have only taken 22 players to the Real Club de Golf Campoamor complex in Alicante means some first team squad members have been left at home, with the unlucky quartet being Luke Coddington, Joe Iaciofano, Yaser Kasim and Billy Waters.

Junior Morias, who only signed for the club on Friday, has also stayed at home and will work with the fitness coaches at Moulton College this week, along with the other senior players left behind

"It is never nice, because all the boys are my boys, they are all my players," said the Cobblers manager.

"But the fact is, I was only ever going to bring 23 out here is we had had three goalkeepers, and as it is we have two, so we are only working with 22.

"That is two players for every position, and it is one of those things, it is football unfortunately.

"We have a good balance of defenders, midfielders and attackers and those players who aren't here will be working hard back at home."

The Cobblers enjoyed their first training session in Spain at 9am on Sunday morning, and they were due to return for a second run-out at 6.30pm, with double sessions set to be the order of the day for the rest of the week.

Austin is delighted with the facilities on offer, and said: "The pitches are in mint condition which is really, really good.

"There is a good gym and an outdoor pool, so it is a nice environment to be able to mix the work with the recovery.

"The trip is a good opportunity for the new players to get really bedded in with their new team-mates, and it should be a good week for us here."

ast month a petition was set up by parents and stakeholders of Dallington Pre-school after the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA) said it was considering shutting the nursery due to a lack of Government funding.

Childminder Hayley Bligh, of Dallington, spearheaded the 615-strong petition and is now, alongside the committee, registering the new 'Dallington Community Nursery' with Ofsted before it can offer funded places and make claims for funding from Northamptonshire County Council.

Any proceeds from the nursery under its charity status will be reinvested into the nursery and into the local community.

She said: "Parents are ecstatic. We found out on Wednesday evening (July 11) that we were given the go-ahead.

"We have not seen people happy for the last four-five weeks. It's all been doom and gloom for a lot of the families.

"Although they might have to wait until October they will have somewhere for their children to go and be happy."

The nursery is aiming to re-open in its former location at the Old Church Rooms before October this year, depending on when the registration process is completed with Ofsted, and the pre-school will have the capacity to take on 24 children both in the morning and afternoon.

Councillor Gareth Eales, (Lab, Dallington & Spencer) who has assisted the campaign, said: “This is a wonderful development and to see a pre-school remain in the heart of the village is fantastic.

"The new Dallington Community Nursery will be ‘ran by the community, for the community’ - with any profits to be reinvested into the nursery and the local community.

"I’d like to say some special thanks to the formidable Hayley Bligh for her drive and determination to get us this far. I’m delighted personally to be a part of this exciting journey.”

A spokesman for Dallington Pre-school said: “There is still work to do to ensure the long-term sustainability of Dallington but we are happy to continue playing our part by offering any support to parents needed throughout the takeover process, including the transfer of equipment and resources to the new setting. We wish the new Dallington Community Nursery well for the future.”

"We are very pleased that a potential solution has been found to secure the future of Dallington Pre-school. The decision to consult with staff on the future of the setting was not one taken lightly and carried a responsibility to explore any viable alternative to permanent closure – something we continued to work towards after the consultation had ended.

“However positive this outcome may be, we know how stressful a time this has been for parents and would like to thank them for their commitment to the setting throughout this process. There is still work to do to ensure the long-term sustainability of Dallington but we are happy to continue playing our part by offering any support to parents needed throughout the takeover process, including the transfer of equipment and resources to the new setting. We wish the new Dallington Community Nursery well for the future.”

Cobblers defender Ash Taylor believes it can only be a good thing that manager Dean Austin has a full pre-season to get his ideas across to the squad ahead of the new Sky Bet League Two campaign.

Austin made an instant impact when he was placed in temporary charge of the team in April following the sacking of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, but he couldn’t halt the team’s slide towards relegation from league one.

Austin was rewarded for his efforts by being handed the Town top job on a permanent basis, and has spent the whole summer plotting how he wants the players to go about their business in the coming season.

The squad reported back for pre-season in the final week of June, and this week are spending the week in Spain as the build up intensifies ahead of the league two opener against Lincoln City on home soil on August 4.

Austin has been putting the players through two training sessions a day, and Taylor says the manager is getting his message across.

“When he (Austin) took temporary charge, he got over what he really wanted to do, and we took well to it,” said the former Aberdeen defender.

“It was a good end to the season, and what we want to plan for this season, he has enough time to implement what he wants to properly.

“He can do that throughout pre-season, and then hopefully we can go into the season very strong, and all knowing our jobs.”

The clash with the Imps is a little over a fortnight away, and Taylor knows it is important he and his team-mates get off to a good start and hit the ground running, something they failed to do last season, losing their first four league games and also bowing out of the Carabao Cup.

“That is what we have to do, as you have to build momentum straight away,” said the 27-year-old.

“Momentum is a big part of football, and if you chalk off a win you keep that confidence, and you keep that momentum going and it is going to be a good season.

“You want to build good habits up for the season, and it’s a good base here, getting away for the week to get the work in and know what you want to do throughout the season.

“We have got an aim, and we just have to implement that and put it altogether, especially with this group of lads we have here as we have the squad to do it.”

Taylor says the atmosphere among the players in Spain has been good, and that they are grafting as hard as they can.

“We have settled in really well and it has been a good couple of days so far, we have got some good work in,” he said.

“Everybody has been working really hard for the past day and a half.”

The Cobblers will train twice a day all this week, apart from Thursday when they will train in the morning and then take on Hull City Under-23s in a friendly at their Real Club de Golf Campoamor complex base, and that’s a game he is looking forward to.

“At this stage it is all about getting the minutes in the tank and coming through unscathed and injury free, because there is a lot of work we are putting in,” said the Merseysider.

“There is a lot of stress on the bodies, but it is part and parcel of it and you have to get your minutes in and the game is something I am looking forward to as we build the fitness towards the start of the season.”

The Charles Bradlaugh, The Black Prince and The Lamplighter host the likes of Jo Caulfield, Matt Forde, Joel Dommett and Angela Barnes on Saturday and Sunday.
Appearing at the Charles Bradlaugh on Saturday is Darren Walsh described as having a unstoppable tsunami of stupid puns. He will be followed by Tom Ward who has previously supported the likes of Hal Cruttenden and Gary Delaney on tour.
Ireland’s finest hip hop musical comedian Rob Broderick is back aftyer a storming appearance at last year’s festival.
The final two acts on Saturday are Lazy Susan, an award winning comedy double act who were widely praised at the Edinburgh Fringe and Jo Caulfield. The latter has appeared on Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You.
Welsh comedian Kiri Pritchard Maclean kicks off the comedy at the Charles Bradlaugh on Sunday and is followed by bright young comedian Marlon Davis.
Another Mock the Week regular Angela Barnes will also appear with Canadian comedian Tom Stade and The Chase’s Paul Sinha performing at the venue.
Edinburgh Fringe regular Tom Legge will open the entertainment on Saturday at The Black Prince.
David Mills will follow on from him with a style described as a mixture of Kenneth Williams and Dave Allen.One of the stars of the six part BBC comedy series Top Coppers Steen Raskapolous is performing after David.
The award winning comedian David Trent who wowed audiences with his unique brand of tech heavy comedy and high octane audiovisual onslaught during his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. The final act on Saturday is Joel Dommett who has appeared on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and done touring dates across the United Kingdom.
Northampton’s Ben Briggs starts proceedings on Sunday followed by Larry Dean who has appeared on Live at the Apollo and Roast Battle.
Also appearing on Sunday is 21-year-old Tom Lucy who is one of the youngest professional comedians in the world. He won the prestigious Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award at 19.
Lloyd Langford will bring his blend of jokes, stories, observations, ad-libs, one-liners, accents, theories, topical gags and self-deprecation as the penultimate act at The Black Prince. The final act is stand up regular Patrick Monahan. He is the winner of ITV’s Show Me The Funny, this half-Iranian, half-Middlesbrough comic is incredibly popular on the comedy circuit.
Ross Smith opens proceedings at The Lamplighter on Saturday. He has already made his mark on the London comedy scene and has been widely praised.
Carl Donnelly will be at the venue having has appeared on Mock The Week, Dave’s One Night Stand, Stand Up for the Week and Russell Howard’s Good News.
Athena Kugblenu appears having written regularly for the News Quiz on Radio Four.
Satirist Matt Forde will appear at The Lamplighter with a number of television appearances including his own show on Dave.
The final act is Darren Harriott who has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central.
There will be no acts at The Lamplighter on Sunday.
Day tickets for either Saturday or Sunday cost £18 and a ticket for the whole weekend costs £30.

For further information or to book tickets visit www.thecomedycrate.com

More than 2,600 employees have left troubled Northamptonshire County Council since 2014, it can be revealed.

Although more than half of the 2,663 leavers were replaced - there are now nearly 1,100 less people working for the authority than there were four years ago.

In February 2014 there were 4,762 people working at the NCC but by February this year, that total had dropped to 3,669.

The county council says that some of the figures can be accounted for by the move to its failed ‘arms length’ organisations Olympus Care and First for Wellbeing during 2016/17.

A Freedom of Information request by this paper showed the number of leavers to be 234 in 2014, 239 in 2015, a huge 1,341 in 2016, 804 in 2017 and 45 up to February of this year. That’s a total of 2,663 people.

The total number of resignations since 2014 was 1,223. The largest number of these came in 2016 when 490 people decided to leave the authority off their own bat.

There were 154 redundancies and 149 people retired during the four years since 2014.

A total of 66 people were sacked and 62 people came to the end of their fixed-term contract.

The figures don’t include school staff.

The news comes as the authority asked the majority of its employees to consider voluntary redundancy because of the financial mess it is in.

We also recently revealed that more than half of social workers employed by the county council left their jobs within a year.

In 2016/17 NCC set up {https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/northamptonshire-county-council-votes-to-scrap-first-for-wellbeing-company-just-two-years-after-setting-it-up-1-8414026 |First for Wellbeing|} which was designed to look after its stop smoking, alcohol, housing and adult learning services. Its other ‘arms length’ company Olympus Care was set up in 2012 to look after adults with disabilities and older people. In 2017 this was merged with its adult social care department to form NASS. Employees were moved over to these organisations but their services have now been brought back in-house after it became impossible for them to be funded by the cash-strapped authority which is currently being overseen by Government inspectors after years of financial mismanagement.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “In a large, complex organisation like the county council which employs thousands of people there is always a natural turnover of staff with people leaving and arriving every year.

“The relatively significant changes in headcount in 2016 and 2017 can be attributed to staff being transferred into arms-length organisations such as First for Wellbeing.

“So although some of these workers were not technically county council employees they were still delivering services to county council policy.”

A woman was attacked by two dogs while she was out cycling.

The incident happened between 2pm and 2.30pm on Wednesday, July 11, when a woman was cycling along the bridleway alongside Willows Nursery, near the A43 Mawsley turn.

She was attacked by two Alsatian dogs. The dogs bit and scratched her on her thighs.

Witnesses, or anyone with information, are asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A samurai sword was among the items stolen in a Corby burglary.

The incident happened on Saturday, July 7, between 4.15am and 4.45am, at a property in Rowlett Road.

The unknown offenders entered the address and stole items including cash, jewellery and electronics, as well as the black and gold ornamental samurai sword pictured.

Witnesses, or anyone with information, are asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A man is wanted in connection with an incident where a woman was sexually harassed on a bus in Northampton town centre.

Police officers have released a CCTV image of a man they wish to speak to following the incident on the Drapery between 8am and 12pm on June 6.

The incident started when a woman got onto the bus in Kettering Road and a man sat next to her. The man became suggestive, leaning across the woman and touching her knee and lap.

She got off the bus in the Drapery and the man followed her, asking her to come to his house and stay overnight and trying to hold her hand.

The man in the photo or anyone who knows him is asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

The incident happened yesterday (July 15) between 3pm and 3.30pm when a man, who was parked in Spencer Street in St James with the car windows open, was hit on his eyebrow by an unknown offender.

A second offender then reached through the passenger window and took a quantity of cash.

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said: "The first offender is described as a 30 to 40-year-old white man of average build, wearing a black baseball cap and black T-shirt."

Anyone with information can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police are looking for witnesses after a man exposed himself in Corby.

The incident happened at about 8am on Monday, July 2, when a 15-year-old girl and her sister were walking along the Kingswood side of Danesholme Road.

A man, standing in a clearing by the entrance to the woodland, was exposing himself.

He is described as dual heritage, 5ft 8in, in his 20s and of medium build.

He had black hair and goatee, and was wearing a grey hooded top, black tracksuit bottoms and white trainers.

Anyone with information can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101.

Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The A45 is closed in the eastbound direction following an incident near to the Riverside Retail Park this morning.

The air ambulance has just landed near to the scene between the Barnes Meadow Interchange and the to A43 Lumbertubs Way Interchange in the last few minutes.

UPDATE: Injured man airlifted to hospital was found in central reservation of busy Northampton road