That is providing Old Northampton Group's (ONG) £10million pound scheme for the former Fat Cats site is approved at the next borough council planning committee on March 19.

The plans for a 60-bed hotel have been held up by an objection from Historic England, which says the remnants of the grade II listed building undamaged by fire are too important to demolish.

But ONG says the scheme can only progress if all but the Bridge Street outer wall is knocked down first.

Sunny Kooner of the company has now urged the council's planning committee to find in favour of the scheme on March 19 - and has promised that, if successful, the scaffolding that has covered Bridge Street for the past seven years outside the former Fat Cats will be taken down within six weeks.

He said: "I promise that if we get approval we will get that scaffolding taken down as a priority," said Mr Kooner.

"What we want to do is clear the site and get the scaffolding inside the building in order to open up Bridge Street again - that is my commitment to the town.

"Development would start later this year."

The Bridge Street premises has been shut since January 2, 2012 when a fire, later found to have been started accidentally by roofers, ripped through the former Angel Hotel building.

Since then, the remaining shell of the building has been supported by scaffolding, which blocks the view of several businesses fronts along Bridge Street.

As a result, the hotel scheme has been largely supported by people in Northampton.

One commenter wrote into the borough council to say: "(Historic England) seem to be nit-picking and unrealistically trying to find reasons to say no.

"Surely both organisations can see that the proposed development with its many facilities will be an absolute boost for Northampton town?"

Historic England, on the other hand, says the fabric of the building is 'irreplaceable' and needs to be kept because it 'tells the story of Northampton'.

The conservation body believes the surviving walls left standing following the Fat Cats fire on the Angel Street side should be retained in any future development.

"It has not been demonstrated that the benefits of bringing the whole site back into use outweighs the total loss of the listed building or the substantial harm to its significance," Historic England wrote in a letter to the borough council.

Mr Kooner said the wall on the Angel Street side could not be adapted to include windows and would make the scheme unviable.

The planning committee will take place at the Guildhall on Tuesday, March 19 at 6pm and anyone wishing to comment on the scheme beforehand can head to the borough council's planning portal here.

1 THEATRE
The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Playhouse Theatre, Northampton, March 12 to 16
Now established as a modern classic of Irish theatre, The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the story of Maureen Foley. Now middle-aged, she is a plain and lonely woman who lives with her manipulative, ageing mother Mag. Her mother’s interference in Maureen’s first and potentially only romantic relationship sets in motion a chain of events that are as tragically funny as they are horrific. The production is presented by Northampton theatre company White Cobra Productions.
Details: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whitecobra

2 THEATRE
Rouse, Ye Women!, Geddington Village Hall, March 9
The ‘folk ballad opera’ is based on the story of Mary Macarthur and the 1910 women chainmakers’ strike, which changed the lives of thousands of workers, establishing for the first time a minimum wage. The show featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour last week and promises to be entertaining, rousing and thought-provoking. It is staged by Townsend Theatre Company.
Email johnpadwick@talk21.com or call 0758 121 0454

3 COMEDY
Sindhu Vee: Sandhog, The Core at Corby Cube, March 9
Sandhog finds the acerbic comic talking about family. As Sindhu explains, loving your children, spouse and ageing parents is very hard work – but who wants to live without love?
Details: www.thecorecorby.com

4 MUSIC
Steve Harley, The Core at Corby Cube, March 9
The original Cockney Rebel performs with his acoustic trio, playing an intimate, unique and atmospheric show with all-time favourites including Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me).
Details: thecorecorby.com

5 THEATRE
Crimes On The Nile, The Core at Corby Cube, March 8
It’s 1935 and celebrated Belgian detective Artemis Arinae is enjoying a cruise along the Nile – when tragedy strikes again. All passengers and staff are suspects, and the body count is growing - will Arinae’s little grey cells identify the murderer in time?
Details: www.thecorecorby.com

6 DANCE
Gaelforce Dance, The Core at Corby Cube, March 7
The celebration of Irish dance, music and song has dynamically tapped its way into the beating hearts of millions of audience members worldwide since its inception in 1999.
Details: www.thecorecorby.com

7 ART
2019 Graduate Show, NN Contemporary Art, Guildhall Road, Northampton, until March 23
See striking work from potential future stars of the art world.
Details: nncontemporaryart.org

8 THEATRE
Abigail’s Party, Royal & Derngate, Northampton, until March 9
Jodie Prenger leads the cast in Abigail’s Party, Mike Leigh’s ground-breaking classic. One of Britain’s most celebrated comedies, Abigail’s Party sees Beverly and her husband Laurence throwing a party for their newly-wed neighbours, Tony and Angela. Joining them is highly strung Susan, who’s been banished from the party of her teenage daughter Abigail.
Details: royalandderngate.co.uk

9 THEATRE
Half a Sixpence, Castle Theatre, Wellingborough, until March 9
Wellingborough Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society presents this popular musical comedy. The show was first produced in London’s West End in 1963, starring Tommy Steele, before becoming a hit on Broadway in 1965 and a success on the big screen in 1967. Songs include Flash Bang Wallop, She’s Too Far Above Me and A Proper Gentleman.
Details: castletheatre.co.uk

10 THEATRE
The Remains of the Day, Royal & Derngate, Northampton, until March 16
Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s literary masterpiece has entranced generations as a novel and an acclaimed Merchant Ivory film. Now it’s transformed for the first time into an exquisite stage play by one of Britain’s most exciting young writers, starring Niamh Cusack and Stephen Boxer.
Details: royalandderngate.co.uk

The 13 highest readings (listed in reverse order) were taken at 91 different points across the town throughout December 2018 and all breached the legal limit. Northampton Borough Council is tackling pollution levels by establishing air quality management zones - such as in St James - and is to install rapid charging points for electric taxis at two of its surface car parks later this month. It is also in talks to install more points for general use.

When police knocked on the door of Owen Bradbrook, of Fell Walk, in March 2017, they found three laptops and a hard drive in the house.

Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday (March 6) how Bradbrook had downloaded more than 1,100 explicit images of children across the four devices - included more than 330 'category A' images and videos, the worst possible kind.

The court heard how the police tried earlier in the morning to see Bradbrook at his house. But on their second visit, the 60-year-old let them in and admitted he had tried to delete some of the evidence before they found him.

The catalogue of images also included 349 'extreme' images - which refer to pictures involving animals or humans.

He collected the library of images over three years of browsing.

In his defence, the court heard Bradbrook felt 'sincere and genuine remorse for the shame and embarrassment he had caused his family' and had made 'real efforts' to address his problems.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children and another count for the 'extreme' pictures.

Recorder Tom Rochford, who judged the case, told Bradbrook: "These are not crimes without victims. The victims are children who are portrayed in these images and in many, many cases were forced to do horrible things for people like you.

"These images are sick and disgusting in the eyes of most people. I hope you will find them sick and disgusting too in time.

"You need to have a long, hard look at yourself."

Bradbrook was handed a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years and a supervision order for 12 months. He will also have his ability to access to internet restricted as part of a sexual harm prevention order.

An off-licence owner was told he had ‘dodged a bullet’ as his store was allowed to stay open after an illegal worker was discovered at two of his Northampton stores.

Kenmuir Avenue Convenience Store had its licence suspended for three months this afternoon (March 6) after a man with no right to work in the UK sold a bottle of Strongbow to a 15-year-old test purchaser.

That sale came just nine days after the same Northampton Borough Council licensing committee suspended the licence of its sister store in Kingsley, Fairfield News, for employing the male in the first place.

Although he had no right to work in the UK, the man was found working behind the counter at Fairfield News on October 4. Northampton Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee met on December 6, and told the designated premises supervisor Amirthalingam Krishnakumar that he ‘had been lucky’ not to have the licence revoked. Committee chairman Councillor Brian Sargeant warned Mr Krishnakumar ‘not to do it again’.

But just nine days after the warning, on December 15, the same male worker was caught selling booze to the underage girl at the second store in Kenmuir Avenue. He was issued with a fixed penalty notice by police at the time.

The second offence landed Mr Krishnakumar in hot water, and he was hauled in front of the licensing sub-committee again today. But he told the councillors he had been ‘let down’ by the manager of the other store, his sister-in-law, who says she allowed him behind the counter while ‘she used the toilet’. Police argued that the man had been working ‘for at least half an hour’ before the undercover test purchase, and showed the committee CCTV footage of the build-up to the sale and the transaction itself.

To make matters worse, a second illegal worker was discovered at the Kenmuir Avenue store on a second visit by police on February 20. Mr Krishnakumar’s representative, Frank Fender of FJF Licensing Solutions, said that due diligence had been carried out, but that he had been ‘duped’ by forged documents.

Mr Fender said: “On the face of it, it looks bad for the licence holder. But it is important to hear the circumstances behind it.”

He outlined how the illegal worker, who was now on bail after applying for asylum from the Home Office, was visiting friends at the family-owned store when the female manager allowed him behind the counter, despite him being the subject of the council review just days earlier. Mr Fender said that Mr Krishnakumar did not know this had happened, as he was working at the Fairfield News store at the time.

Mr Krishnakumar has since fired his sister-in-law as the manager of the Kenmuir Avenue store, but councillors were told that she continued to live above the shop.

Mr Fender also said that his client had carried out ‘appropriate checks’ with respect to the second illegal worker who was discovered on February 20, saying: “He has been fooled by very good copies of documentation, which appeared to show that he had the right to work in the country.”

PC Chris Stevens, of Northamptonshire Police, said the force had called for the review of the store because they felt that the council committee should look at revoking the licence.

In his written statement, he said that the licence holder ‘continued to have no regard for the law’ when it came to using illegal workers.

Summing up, PC Stevens said: “These were not best efforts of the manager or the staff. Regardless of whether he was there or not, he was responsible and it falls on him. In the police’s opinion, it all points to revocation of the licence.”

But Mr Krishnakumar, who at times was in tears at the meeting, was narrowly granted a second reprieve by the committee, which was split on the decision.

They eventually decided to impose a three-month suspension of the licence at Kenmuir Avenue, with a host of strict conditions, including that only valid licence holders can sell alcohol from the premises.

Committee chairman Councillor Sergeant told the licence holder: “You’ve dodged a bullet today. I was very disappointed after our last hearing that you gave your word, and that you broke that. I was personally disappointed. We don’t want to see you here again.”

Fellow committee member Councillor Graham Walker added: “I sat here at the last meeting, and we felt that you would put everything else in order. You are a very lucky man that it has not been revoked today. If there is a next time, there’s no coming back from it.”

And third member Councillor Gareth Eales said: “We think this is a proportionate outcome. There are very strict conditions being put in place so that we can protect the people of Northampton and ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Mr Krishnakumar was advised to adopt the same conditions for his store at Fairfield News, which had recently re-opened after its own suspension.

Louis-Ryan was stabbed to death on Drayton Walk, in the St Davids area, Kingsthorpe, on the evening of May 25. He was just 17.

The teenager was named on the front page of the Daily Mail on Tuesday (March 5) as one of 27 other young people - and 285 totally - killed by knives over the past 12 months in the UK.

It comes as part of a wider national story after Tory MP Julia Lopez warned the Commons that the public was 'losing faith' in the Government's ability to police the streets.

Many national newspapers have adopted the phrase 'wild west Britain' to address the national knife crime crisis. The Daily Mail reported the UK suffered 110 knife crimes a day in the year leading up to September 2018.

Labour's Stella Creasy told Home Secretary Sajid Javid: "The task forces, the consultations, the more reports, it isn't working. This is an emergency that requires an emergency response."

Even in Northamptonshire, there have been seven killings or murders linked to knives and stabbings since January 2018.

The victims in those cases were Tairu Jallow, 29, Louis-Ryan Menezes, 17, Chris Matthews, 42, Daniel Fitzjohn, 35, Augustus 'Gus' Davies, 23, Reece Ottoway, 23, and Shane Fox, 26.

And an incident - which police are treating as attempted murder - left a 17-year-old boy with serious injuries when he was stabbed on February 18. No has been charged for this offence.

It comes as data shows that knife offences in Northamptonshire have increased by more than 40 per cent over the last four years, with 452 offences involving a knife or sharp weapon between April 2017 and March 2018.

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with Louis-Ryan's murder and was set to stand trial in February, but the case had to be adjourned to later in the year.

The combined progress score of +8.6 in reading, writing and maths means pupils at the St George's Street school on average make significantly more progress at Key Stage 2 as those nationally with similar starting points.

Progress scores are centred around 0, with most schools within the range of -5 to +5.

Pupils at Castle Academy, which is part of the East Midlands Academy Trust, performed particularly well in writing, scoring in the top five per cent nationally for progress during Key Stage 2.

Headteacher Lorna Beard said: “I’m very proud of our pupils and our staff for their hard work to achieve these incredible progress results.

“At Castle Academy, we are determined to support each and every child to do the very best they can, and these progress scores show that our pupils are exceeding expectations in the key areas of reading, writing and maths.”

The school’s attainment scores – the number of children achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths – place Castle Academy 23rd out of 125 schools whose pupils had similar attainment at Key Stage 1.

Joshua Coleman, chief executive of the East Midlands Academy Trust, said: “Our motto as a trust is that every child deserves to be the very best that they can be, and the staff at all of our schools are committed to supporting pupils to reach their full potential.

“These progress and attainment scores for Castle Academy are fantastic and a real testament to the dedication and hard work of Lorna and her team.”

The 13 highest readings (listed in reverse order) were taken at 91 different points across the town throughout December 2018 and all breached the legal limit. Northampton Borough Council is tackling pollution levels by establishing air quality management zones - such as in St James - and is to install rapid charging points for electric taxis at two of its surface car parks later this month. It is also in talks to install more points for general use.

A police spokesman said a closure has been in place in London Road, Far Cotton near Penrhyn Road from about 6.25am.

He said it is to allow emergency services to deal with an incident.

He added: "Please avoid the area for now. Updates to follow."

A police helicopter was hovering over Far Cotton and Delapre for over an hour until about 6.30am.

When the awards are handed out at Saints come the end of the season, you get the feeling George Furbank won't be too far away from picking up a trophy or two.

The 22-year-old has been nothing short of a revelation at Franklin's Gardens this season, impressing so much that he has grabbed the 15 shirt from Ahsee Tuala.

Tuala has been on the wing in recent weeks, with Furbank occupying the full-back slot after a series of fine displays.

And the youngster has even shown his ability to switch positions, playing for 60 minutes at fly-half in the stunning 67-17 success against Sale Sharks last month.

Furbank was on the move again last weekend, filling the fly-half void after James Grayson was forced to withdraw in the warm-up at Saracens.

And although the game didn't go to plan for Saints, who lost 36-17 at Allianz Park, there were more flashes of Furbank's obvious ability.

"Obviously the boys were disappointed with the result against Saracens because we felt confident going into the game on the back of a lot of wins," said Furbank.

"We let ourselves down in the first half, were just off it physicality wise and they took advantage of that.

"Thankfully we came back a bit in the second half and put a few points on the board.

"It was interesting for me to play at 10 again.

"Obviously I've played at 10 a couple of times now. It was a bit different to the game against Sale!

"It's a learning curve for me and I enjoyed having the opportunity to play there.

"I want to be able to take my opportunity when I do get put in that 10 jersey.

"It benefits me playing at 10 and then going back to full-back.

"It was quite a tough game to switch in, but it's nice knowing the coaches have got the confidence in me to put me at 10.

"Hopefully next time we play Saracens it will be a different result."

And Furbank was treated to some words of wisdom after last weekend's game, as he chatted to Alex Goode, who also usually plays full-back but has been filling in at fly-half for Saracens in the absence of Owen Farrell in recent weeks.

"He (Goode) spoke to me after the game a bit and just said 'keep going, it's tough going to 10' and if he finds it hard, I'm going to find it tough as well!," Furbank said.

"If I could have a career like his, it would be ideal.

"He's been one of the best full-backs in the Prem for a while and I try to pick out as much as I can from the games of those guys."

Furbank has now played 12 matches this season - starting all of them - scoring three tries in the process.

And the Huntingdon-born back, who came through the Saints Academy, is savouring every second of the 2018/19 campaign.

"I'm loving this season," Furbank said.

"It's nice to get some games under my belt, it's nice we're winning games and hopefully we can finish the season well.

"The team is 100 per cent progressing, things are starting to click.

"It's always going to be tough when a new system is put in place, but it's starting to come together and the team is bonding."

Furbank now sets his sights on the battle with Bristol Bears at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday afternoon.

And he takes good memories into the game, having scored a try and kicked a conversion in a victory against the same opponents in a Premiership Rugby Cup clash in October.

"They're a top quality team, very dangerous in attack, as a lot of sides have found out," Furbank said.

"They will play from anywhere so we've got to be on alert in defence but we feel like they will give us opportunities to score as well.

"We back our attack, as we always do, and as long as we score more points than them we'll be fine!"

Midfielder Sam Foley believes the hard work that has been put in by the Cobblers players and management over the past few months is now paying off.

Keith Curle has been in charge at the PTS Academy Stadium since the beginning of October, and has spoken constantly of changing mentality at the club and ‘putting the building blocks in place’ for a brighter future.

It hasn’t been a smooth progression, and the team have suffered some serious bumps along the way, but last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Crewe Alexandra made it five matches unbeaten for Town.

It saw the team move a hefty 15 points clear of a Sky Bet League Two relegation zone they have flirted with for much of the season, to within touching distance of the top half of the table, and to within nine points of the top seven and play-off places.

On Saturday the Cobblers entertain Exeter City at the PTS Academy Stadium, knowing a win will move them to within seven points of the fifth-placed Grecians with 10 matches of the season remaining.

Foley, who has returned to the team for the past two matches after missing six weeks with a back injury, is delighted with the recent upturn in fortune, and says it is down to hard graft.

“All the hard work seems to be paying off at the minute and coming together,” said the former Port Vale man.

“We spoke earlier in the season how we weren’t quite getting the rub of the green, and had been quite unlucky, but you make your own luck and it is starting to turn around. The boys have earned that.

“If you look at the table it was kind of split in two, and we were top of that lower fraction, so for us to close the gap on those teams above us is what we are looking at, and to make the gap bigger below us.

“I don’t think any of the boys are looking behind them any more, we are looking up and seeing where we can get to and who we can claw back and get in front of.”

A police spokesman said a closure was in place in London Road, Far Cotton near Penrhyn Road from about 6.25am.

He said this was to allow emergency services to deal with an incident.

The road was later reopened at about 7am.

A police helicopter was hovering over Far Cotton and Delapre for over an hour until about 6.30am.

Police have so far given no details of the nature of the incident but officers have been seen leaving the Giggling Sausage Cafe, which is on the corner of Southampton Road and London Road.

A man aged 34 had been arrested after police cordoned off a road in Far Cotton this morning (Thursday)

Police were called to the Giggling Sausage Cafe in London Road at about 3.40am today (Thursday) after reports of a break-in.

But officers who arrived at the scene were confronted with a man on the roof of the building.

After closing the road, police called in firefighters to assist with a rescue and East Midlands Ambulance Service medics were summoned as a precaution.

And a police helicopter was tasked with keeping an eye on the man from above, using its infrared camera.

The incident came to a close at 6.45am when a 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and burglary.

But Amelie, Mia,Isabelle, Lexy, Holly, Aimee, Millie, Frankie, Georgia, Jaime-Leigh, Lucy, Lily, Darcey, Izzy, Mia and Hannah need your help more than ever to get them there. Dance principals Naomi Crofts and Odette Newman have launched an ambitious £10,000 fundraising appeal. The money will cover event fees, team England kit, accommodation and travel expenses to ensure the youngsters have the best trip – all in the hope of bringing home a World Cup medal. Odette said: “They have worked on this piece for the best part of two years and they were obviously over the moon to hear they had been selected, and in a tough catergory as well. “It would mean the world to them to give it their all.” If you can help get Oncore to Portugal, you can donate by getting in touch with Oncore bosses at: oncore@hotmail.co.uk

The full extent of the early years payment problems at Northamptonshire County Council has been laid bare with one councillor declaring the situation a crisis.

Since a different payment system was brought in two years ago there have been huge problems with childminders and nurseries being underpaid by thousands of pounds and regularly paid late.

A number of nursery owners spoke of their experiences at a special scrutiny meeting held at county hall.

It was revealed that not only had the council not been able to process payments properly but it had also been breaching families’ personal data including giving dates of births, addresses and national insurances numbers to strangers. It was also made clear that the issues are still ongoing and the council has not yet been able to get on top of the problem.

Speaking at the meeting, Tom Shea, who has a number of nurseries and employs more than 200 staff, said the issues caused by the council not being able to work its system had resulted in hours of wasted time and frustration for many.

He said: “A lot of our time and energy which should be spent looking after children is being spent on administration. I know child minder who don’t have money to pay the mortgage. Some are giving up being childminders.”

Nursery owner Hayley Hannan asked councillors and officers: “Why aren’t you helping us? We are here raising your children. Listen to us. You have got to listen to us. Otherwise you are going to have serious issues – because we are not taking it any more.”

Rachel Hutchison, who has a nursery in Dodford, said the time spent on checking invoices and speaking with council officers to try to rectify late payments was taking her away from time being spent with her children.

She said: “In January 2018 I was underpaid by £12,000. My staffing bill is £9,000. Where do I get the money from?

“It has taken away from my children, it has taken me away from my maternity leave – I have a four month old baby. There have been apologies for the past 18 months.”

Cllr Fiona Baker, who is the councillor responsible for children’s services, said that she had gone on television to apologise.

Owner of Little Learners nurseries Sam Evans said her £110,000 monthly wage bill was only able to be paid on one occasion after an insurance claim for a leak was paid.

There was anger from all sides as councillors put new director of children’s services Sharon Hodge, who has only been in post for three weeks, and strategic manager for commissioning and strategy Deborah Mahon under the spotlight.

Both officers are new to the post and had inherited the problems from their predecessors.

Deborah Mahon admitted the department had a resource problem and that if more staff were put in it would take her over budget.

At the moment two commissioners appointed from central government are looking at every penny the council is spending. A children’s commissioner is also overseeing the department after a damning Ofsted at the end of last year.

Sharon Hodge said the issue was one of her top priorities but hard choices would have to be made.

She said: “If I increase the capacity in that service I will need to reduce it somewhere else. That needs to be on the table.”

Cllr Victoria Perry, who was the councillor responsible for children’s services, until she was replaced in January, said she had been told by a former director of children’s services that the new system had been brought in to save staffing costs. It had also gone live without being tested.

Cllr Perry said: “This problem was escalating and escalating and at some points I was being told it was the provider’s fault – it wasn’t the case.”

Cllr Adam Brown was among those at the meeting who were keen for answers.

He said: “It is little short of a miracle that any of their businesses have survived. They have had promises dating back well over a year. We need to stop making assurances that we cant deliver on.”

He called for the new system to be scrapped and the council to revert to what it was using before.

Cllr Richard Auger apologised to the nursery owners and said: “We are in crisis. This would be a major incident in policing.

“We are not even treating this as an emergency. We are more NCC focused that provider focused.”

The meeting heard that neighbouring authorities are using the same system without any problems. Questions were also asked of shared service provider LGSS’s role in the problems and whether the new multi-million pound ERP Gold system was involved.

Cllr Danielle Stone said: “There seem to be really critical capacity issues. We need to flag that up really urgently with the commissioners. We cannot have hard-pressed staff covering for these gaps.”

Recommendations that will be put to the cabinet by the scrutiny committee include repaying people immediately and in one lump sum and getting to the bottom of cause of the system problems.

Boss Keith Curle has revealed the depth of soul searching that took place within the Cobblers squad and coaching staff following last month’s 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Colchester United.

The clash at the PTS Academy Stadium on February 2 was a humbling experience, and the low point of Curle’s time in charge so far, since he took over from the sacked Dean Austin at the beginning of October.

Curle is still adamant that was a game that could have ended up in a very different scoreline if Town had taken their chances on the day, and that is the case, but he admits the fact things all went so horribly wrong led to a serious rethink behind the scenes.

Town have reacted to that thumping at the hands of the U’s by going on a five-match unbeaten run, winning three times on the road, and have eased 15 points clear of the relegation zone with 11 games of the season remaining.

The manager has been delighted with that response to what was a humiliating afternoon for him and his players, and said: “There has been a fantastic reaction after the Colchester result.

“Sometimes having a 4-0 scoreline lays everybody open to criticism, myself included, but it also gives you a starting point to rebuild.

“Rather than hiding behind the result, and saying if the game had been the same but ended 1-0, then probably a lot of things might not have come to the surface.

“But we used that result in a positive vein, with the meetings we had with the players, and also the meetings we had with the staff, and not dismantling some of the things that we had been trying to build, and trying put in place.

“Sometimes you need such a deficite scoreline to refocus, and realise the necessity of doing the simple things well. To a man that is what has happened in the changing room.

“Nobody likes being beaten, nobody likes being turned over, nobody likes a 4-0 as we don’t like losing.

“There are things that we still need to improve on, even from last Saturday (Town on 2-0 at Crewe) and recent matches, but we are getting the results, and we are earning the results.”

And he added: “The reaction of the players has been pleasing, as they haven’t melted.

“We have set them individual challenges, and what we said to them after the Colchester game was ‘have you done that?’, ‘did you do your job?’, as an individual.

“As a unit, we asked ‘where were we? What did we do? What did we not do?’

“We just highlighted those things, there were lost of conversations, lots of meetings and every say we were able to reiterate to the players, ‘this is your job and this is what needs to be done’.

“In the past couple of performances that has been the mindset of the players,and there has been a good focus among the group.”

Sleeping residents in a Northampton neighbourhood were woken up by 'explosions' last night as a fire spread to two cars on their street.

The neighbours of Stanhope Road, Queens Park, looked out their windows at around 3.25am today (March 7) to see two cars ablaze.

A resident told the Chronicle & Echo he was woken by an 'explosion' and was quick to call the fire brigade once he saw the burning cars.

Northants Fire and Rescue had to use two hose reels and breathing masks to extinguish the spreading blaze.

In a tweet, the fire service said the sudden ignition was caused by a 'mechanical defect'.

A warning has gone out to Northamptonshire's rural communities after 10 sheep were illegally butchered in their fields in the past two weeks.

Two farms - one near Northampton and one in Daventry - have been hit by criminals who are killing and professionally butchering sheep on their land.

Northamptonshire Police is urging rural communities to look out for and report any suspicious activity.

On February 28, officers were called to an incident in Whilton, near Daventry, where five sheep were found to have been killed and professionally butchered in their field.

Then, in the early hours of Wednesday morning (March 6), a farmer in Harpole, Northampton, discovered five pregnant ewes had been killed and partially butchered before the suspects were disturbed and fled.

To help protect livestock and catch those responsible, rural crime officers at Northamptonshire Police are urging people who live and work in rural locations to report anything suspicious they see.

PC Abbey Anstead said: “To find animals have been killed and butchered like this is not only very upsetting for farmers but also has financial repercussions.

“If you see something that strikes you as unusual, out of the ordinary or just a bit ‘off’ please let us know by calling 101 or making a report online.

“Please don’t worry that it’s a silly or trivial detail, as even a small piece of information may be a vital key that allows us to link other reports and bring those responsible for illegal activity to book.

“We also want farmers to be aware that this has been happening. If you suspect someone has attempted to target your animals, or find that you’ve lost livestock in this way, please report it to the police immediately.”

The neighbouring police forces of Warwickshire and Leicestershire have also recently had reports of sheep being illegally butchered in a similar manner to the Northamptonshire incidents.

Suspicious activity and non-emergency crime can be reported to Northamptonshire Police on 101 or online at www.northants.police.uk/reportonline. In an emergency, always call 999.

Information can also be shared anonymously via Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111.

Bringing their favourite story book characters to life through dressing up, the town's pupils have surpassed themselves this year to make their classrooms like live-action story books. From Harry Potter to 101 Dalmatians, classics and new favourites are on display, showing how much our kids love reading and being read to.

Three lanes on the M1 southbound have been closed this afternoon after a crash.

Long delays of up to an hour have been reported by AA Traffic News between junction 14 for the A509 (Milton Keynes) and junction 15 for the A45 (Northampton).

Highways East Midlands has said traffic is currently at a standstill while emergency services deal with the collision and have 'no current ETA' for when they can release traffic.

Diversions have been put in place and road users are advised to follow the 'Hollow Circle' diversion symbol and exit the M1 at J15 onto the A508.

Continue on the A508 through Roade and Grafton Regis to the A508/A5/A422 Old Startford Roundabout.

At the roundabout take the first exit onto the A5. Continue along the A5 until the A5/A509 Portway. Take first exit onto the A509 Portway, then re-join the M1 southbound at J14.

Wider strategic traffic heading for London and South East destinations are encouraged to use the M40 route from the Midlands.

Road users are advised to allow extra time for their journeys and consider alternative routes.