The new approach combines traditional bus services, community transport and innovative demand response services to cater for the needs of the people of Northamptonshire.

The authority has examined every settlement in the county and used a number of criteria to assess what sort of transport would provide the best solution for a particular area.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, county council cabinet member for infrastructure and public protection, said: “The county council has to save an enormous amount of money over the next four years, which has put tremendous pressure on us to examine how we run all of our services.

“There’s no doubt that the traditional way of providing public transport was becoming inefficient and an overhaul of the system was badly needed.

“When you look at the figures and the facts about how much some of these services were costing the tax payer it is clear that in the current climate the current situation just could not go on.

“What we are proposing here is significantly reducing this spend and I think we have come up with better, more cost effective ways of providing transport where there is a need.

“What we’ve come up with is a variety of solutions, as you’d expect when you have a diverse county with deep rural areas and large towns.”

The new strategy includes:

* Working with bus companies so that bus routes which have been marginally subsidised by the council could be tweaked to become fully commercial.

* Continuing to pay for some fixed routes which require only a small subsidy.

* Working with community transport operators to develop public bus services.

* The introduction of four demand response services in deep rural areas of the county As well as the existing CallConnect branded service in North East Northants, the new CountyConnect service will be launched in September across:

o Nene Valley, focused on Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds

o Welland Valley, focused on Market Harborough

o Long Buckby and Daventry

o South Northants, focused on Towcester and Brackley, including off-peak links to Banbury

To register and book on County Connect go to www.county-connect.co.uk or telephone 0845 456 4474.

More information on changes to bus routes can be found at www.northamptonshire.gov.uk.

More details about all bus services can also be found on Traveline at www.traveline.info or by calling 0871 200 2233.

Northamptonshire County Council is launching the public consultation phase of a library review which aims to ensure the county’s libraries are fit for the 21st century by March 2015.

During the past few months, the council has been speaking with key groups and organisations already involved with libraries such as Friends of the Library groups, district and borough councils and parish and town councils to get their feedback about how the service can be developed to ensure they can continue to thrive despite the ongoing financial challenges.

The results of these discussions are now being taken forward for public consultation. The consultation document is based around five key themes that aim to make libraries more self-supporting over the next four years and therefore reduce council costs by up to 50% as well as find ways to build on the already important role libraries play within their communities. The themes are:

1) Jobs and prosperity centres

2) Community hubs

3) Helping people to help each other

4) Maximising community contributions

5) Transforming libraries.

Councillor Heather Smith, county council cabinet member for customer services said: “This review is our response to the thousands of voices we heard during our budget consultation telling us why they value the library service and what it means to them in their lives.

“There are three million visits a year to county libraries and this number is growing as more people recognise that libraries in Northamptonshire are books and so much more – in short, they are Library Plus.

“We want to harness this enthusiasm and support to ensure that libraries have a strong and successful future. The difficult financial challenges we are facing mean that we need to find a realistic way to achieve this as we simply cannot afford to continue to completely fund the library service ourselves.

“We have already talked to our partners in other councils, not to mention our growing numbers of Friends of the Library groups and they have contributed to the first draft of the review.

“But now we need everyone to get involved in this consultation and we are providing lots of ways for people to play their part in the future of the library service in Northamptonshire.”

People can hear more about the review and give their feedback by attending one of the public meetings taking place during September:

10th September      Central Library 10am – 12pm

17th September      Weston Favell Library 10am – 12pm

                                       Wellingborough Library 2pm – 4pm

24th September      Kettering Library 10am -12pm

                                       Daventry Library 2pm – 4pm

25th September      Corby Library 2pm – 4pm

A video booth will be available at the public meetings for anyone who wants to record their views. People can also learn more about the review and fill in a survey at www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/libraries

Councillor Smith said: “These are your libraries and we are proposing a future where your contribution – in money, in time, or in kind – is asked for and recognised and appreciated.

”This review sets out a plan where instead of closing libraries or reducing opening hours, we diversify the way libraries are funded. We intend to review how we are doing in Summer 2013 as a mid-point but if progress is not on track we will have to consider closures once again.

“No-one wants that, so please help us shape and deliver a service that 58% of the population use now and the next generation rely on.”

The Residents’ Panel is an opportunity for local people to give their views to their local councils more regularly and directly – to have a greater say in influencing local decisions that matter.

Local residents aged over 18 can apply to join and get involved. Members of the panel will have various opportunities to talk about important issues and regularly be invited to tell both councils what they think.

Panel members will be asked to complete surveys and give their views on specific topics relating to local public services as well as be invited to take part in focus groups and mystery shopping.

Councillor David Mackintosh, county council cabinet member for community services said: “This is a chance for you to influence the decisions that you care about.

“We’re looking for people who are enthusiastic about Northamptonshire and enjoy giving their honest opinion. It’s a great opportunity for anyone who feels strongly about their county and who wants the best for it to make sure their voice is heard. The panel will help us evaluate local services and identify ways to improve.”

Leader of Northampton Borough Council, Councillor David Palethorpe said: “This is a chance to get involved and have your say on a wide range of important issues. Being on the panel is a way to make a difference in how we deliver services and work with our communities. If you feel you could contribute something to our town then we want to hear from you.”

Anyone who would like to join the Residents’ Panel and influence the services of Northampton Borough Council and Northamptonshire County Council should visit either www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/residentspanel or www.northampton.gov.uk/residentspanel and complete the short recruitment questionnaire.

Look out for these posters in areas the bus serves

16 August – People will soon be able to register to use Northamptonshire County Council’s innovative County Connect bus service, a new transport system which will help to link rural communities.

The demand response system will focus on five separate areas in Northamptonshire and centre round hub towns, where passengers can then connect with regular inter-urban buses.

People who want to use the service first need to register and from August 22 this can be done by contacting 0845 456 4474 or by going online at www.county-connect.co.uk

From Tuesday, August 30 people will be able to start booking journeys either through the contact details above or by texting CountyConnect followed by their message to 82727.

The service works on a first-come-first-served basis and journeys can be booked up to a week in advance to travel to any other stop in the area served, not just the local town centre.

The County Connect service starts to operate on September 5 and for many small rural communities it will be the first time they have had access to public transport, and in scores of others, infrequent services running less than three times a week, will be replaced by daily services.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, county council cabinet member for infrastructure and public protection, said: “This new system offers reliable bus journeys but one of the other advantages is that because it is demand led costs are kept to a minimum.

“The financial challenge we face as a council has meant that we had to re-examine the way we run all of our services including the provision of subsidised public transport.

“However, this new flexible approach makes much more sense today and therefore I believe County Connect will provide a better service for everyone not just financially but practically too.”

As well as the existing CallConnect branded service in North East Northants, the new CountyConnect service will be launched in September across:

* Nene Valley, focused on Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds

* Welland Valley, focused on Market Harborough

* Long Buckby and Daventry

* South Northants, focused on Towcester and Brackley, including off-peak links to Banbury

County Connect differs from conventional bus services in that customers book a seat on specially designed low-floor mini-buses either by telephone, text message or via the internet and arrange to be picked up at a specific time at their nearest village bus stop.

Technical support for the service will be provided by Lincolnshire County Council which has been operating a similar transport system for a number of years.

The demand response system – known as CountyConnect – will focus on five separate areas in the county and centre round hub towns, where passengers can then connect with regular inter-urban buses.

It differs from conventional bus services in that customers book a seat on specially designed low-floor mini-buses either by telephone, text message or via the internet and arrange to be picked up at a specific time at their nearest village bus stop.

People can book to travel to any other stop in the area served, not just the local town centre and rather than just providing occasional ‘shopper’ journeys, the service is designed to make all kinds of journeys possible, including medical appointments, and regular journeys to college or work.

For many small rural communities it will be the first time they have had access to public transport, and in scores of others infrequent services running less than three times a week will be replaced by daily services.

As well as the existing CallConnect branded service in North East Northants, the new CountyConnect service will be launched in September across:

* Nene Valley, focused on Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds

* Welland Valley, focused on Market Harborough

* Long Buckby and Daventry

* South Northants, focused on Towcester and Brackley, including off-peak links to Banbury

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, county council cabinet member for infrastructure and public protection, said: “This new, flexible transport system has been pioneered already in the county with CallConnect and this has proved to be remarkably successful and popular.

“The need to save millions of pounds meant that we needed to rethink the way we provided subsidised public transport but in a way this overhaul was badly needed anyway.

“This new County Connect service offers reliable travel and because it is only used where there is a demand, costs are kept low too.”

Technical support for the service will be provided by Lincolnshire County Council which has been operating a similar transport system for a number of years.

You can view a list of bus provision by settlement area on the Tranpsortation page of the YouChoose website.

The new approach combines traditional bus services, community transport and innovative demand response services to cater for the needs of the people of Northamptonshire.

The authority has examined every settlement in the county and used a number of criteria to assess what sort of transport would provide the best solution for a particular area.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, county council cabinet member for infrastructure and public protection, said: “The county council has to save an enormous amount of money over the next four years, which has put tremendous pressure on us to examine how we run all of our services.

“There’s no doubt that the traditional way of providing public transport was becoming inefficient and an overhaul of the system was badly needed.

“When you look at the figures and the facts about how much some of these services were costing the tax payer it is clear that in the current climate the current situation just could not go on.

“What we are proposing here is significantly reducing this spend and I think we have come up with better, more cost effective ways of providing transport where there is a need.

“What we’ve come up with is a variety of solutions, as you’d expect when you have a diverse county with deep rural areas and large towns.”

The new strategy, which will be introduced on September 5, includes:

* Working with bus companies so that bus routes which have been marginally subsidised by the council could be tweaked to become fully commercial.

* Continuing to pay for some fixed routes which require only a small subsidy.

* Working with community transport operators so they can operate services under a section 22 permit, which would allow them to transport paying passengers and allow the county council to reimburse the operator for carrying passengers holding a concessionary pass.

* The introduction of five demand response systems in deep rural areas of the county As well as the existing CallConnect branded service in North East Northants, the new CountyConnect service will be launched in September across:

o Nene Valley, focused on Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds

o Welland Valley, focused on Market Harborough

o Long Buckby and Daventry

o South Northants, focused on Towcester and Brackley, including off-peak links to Banbury

The council consulted widely on the new proposals and wrote to borough, district, parish and town councils along with groups representing bus users and the elderly and disabled. A number of public engagement events were also held.

You can view a map of the new bus routes, a list of services by settlement, and an overview of how the consultation helped inform the strategy on the Transporation page of the YouChoose website.

Earlier this month Northamptonshire County Council announced the start of a huge consultation on how to transform services – provided by hundreds of organisations in Northamptonshire – which focus on preventing problems arising in people’s lives or to stop current issues deteriorating further.

With ever increasing demands on services and with huge reductions in government funding the council launched the consultation to help find a way to help more people help themselves and ultimately become less reliant on specialist services.

Services in scope of this consultation include drug and alcohol services supporting victims of inter-personal violence, advice services, youth services, the Connexions service, study support centres, children’s centres and support for housing, parents, older people, people with physical disabilities and carers.

People wanting to have their say can attend any of the following meetings:

* East Northants Council Offices 3rd August,

9:45am – 12:10pm

* South Northants Homes, Burcote Road, Towester 4th August,

9.45am – 12.10pm

* Kettering Borough Council Offices 8th August,

9:45am – 12:10pm

* Northampton Guildhall 9th August,

1:45pm – 4:10pm

* Wellingborough Council Offices 10th August,

1:45pm – 4:10pm

* Daventry District Council Offices 11th August,

9:45am – 12:10pm

* Corby Council Chamber, The Cube 12th August,

9:45am – 12:10pm

Cabinet member for community services Cllr David Mackintosh said: “Prevention is not a new concept for the council. We already have a wealth of experience of delivering with partners such services for adults, children, families and communities.

“We believe however we can provide more co-ordinated and community based prevention services which could help improve quality of life for those in need of help and ultimately prevent them needing more specialist and expensive services.

“There are three main types of services we currently provide. There are universal services available to all such as schools, libraries and children’s centres. Then there are prevention services which are targeted at those with specific needs at an early stage. Then there are specialist services which are those designed to meet very specific and complex needs.

“What we are looking to do through this consultation is look at what better way could we provide universal and prevention services to reduce the number of people ultimately requiring the specialist services.”

Anyone wishing to book a place at these meetings should email kridley@northamptonshire.gov.uk or phone 01604 237977.

Northamptonshire County Council is beginning an extensive library review which aims to ensure the county’s libraries are fit for the 21st century.

This is the first stage of the review during which the council will be speaking to key groups and organisations already involved with libraries such as Friends of the Library groups, district and borough councils and parish councils to get their thoughts, feedback and ideas on how the service can be developed to ensure they can continue to thrive despite the current financial challenges.

The results of these discussions will then inform a public consultation due to take place in the autumn.

Councillor Heather Smith, county council cabinet member for customer services said: “The financial challenges we are currently tackling are well known and it comes as no surprise to say that we simply cannot afford to continue to completely fund the library service ourselves.

“This is why we are starting our review by speaking with our partners and key stakeholders as libraries need their help. The thousands of responses we received during our library closure proposals earlier this year showed us just how much libraries are valued by people living and working in the county and we want to harness this enthusiasm and support. In fact, many people have said that they would be prepared to pay something towards keeping their service.

“This review is very much a draft – it provides an alternative view where instead of closing libraries or reducing opening hours, we go all out to diversify the way they are funded. We are facing a future where contributions from residents and local organisations, whether in time, in money or in kind, are asked for, recognised and appreciated.”

The overall aim of the library review is to make libraries more self-supporting over the next four years and therefore reduce council costs by up to 50%. The review also looks at the important role libraries already play within their communities and how this can be built upon. This first draft of the consultation document considers several ways of achieving this including:

* Creating new models for delivering libraries that make the most of community contributions to the service, including volunteering, donations and sponsorship.

* Reorganising the current libraries to provide community hubs which include a range of other public services.

* Exploring the possibility of a mutual library service where local people can contribute more directly in the delivery and maintenance of their library service.

* Looking at shared service opportunities with neighbouring library services.

* Using libraries as prosperity centres with job clubs, small business advice etc to drive forward the county’s economic recovery.

* Continue to develop the libraries as hubs of community involvement and volunteering to help make the Big Society real in Northamptonshire.

* Review opening hours to include Sunday opening for all libraries to improve accessibility and support the development of their new roles.

* Develop the Friends of the Library groups and increase customer contributions and involvement, including creating a donation and bequest strategy.

Councillor Heather Smith said: “We already have a thriving and well-loved service with 3 million visits a year and growing; 58% of people in this county said they used a library last year compared with 41% nationally and increasing numbers of people join every year.

“Our challenge now is not just about turning all that goodwill into cash or action – it is finding a good way to keep that up long-term to ensure libraries have a strong future.

“We want to work with people to ensure libraries remain at the heart of our local communities but the ideas and options we are discussing will potentially mean a very different library service in the future.

“For example, we have not ruled out changing the status of the service to be a mutual or provident society. We are also considering extending our experience of running a good value, effective and highly-innovative library service to run other library services and enable further significant income to be generated.

“We are not saying that libraries won’t change and look different or be replaced by shared services or relocated – but we are committing to the current network of 36 libraries.

“We face a massive challenge but we face it together.”

The consultation is being launched with a group meeting of the 25 Friends of the Library groups on Saturday 11 June at 9am Higham Ferrers Library.

The first draft of the library review 2012-15 is out for consultation with key stakeholders until the end of July. A revised version for public consultation will be out in the autumn.

The council has announced measures on how it could provide public transport on greatly reduced budgets by combining traditional bus services, community transport and innovative demand response services.

The two additional dates, both evening events, are:

* Monday, May 23 , 7pm – 9pm The Court Room, The Guildhall, St Giles Square, Northampton NN1 1DE

* Wednesday, May 25, 7pm-9pm The Cornmarket Hall, London Road, Kettering NN15 7QA

Events are still to take place on:

* Wednesday, 18 May 2pm-4pm The Town Hall, 86 Watling Street, Towcester NN12 6BS

* Monday, 23 May 2.30-4.30pm The Court Room, The Guildhall, St Giles Square, Northampton NN1 1DE

The authority has examined every settlement in the county and used a number of criteria to assess what sort of transport would provide the best solution for a particular area.

People have until May 27 to comment on the proposals and it is expected that the new transport systems would be introduced in September.

To have say on the future of public transport in Northamptonshire please go to www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/youchoose

People can also write to the council at: You Choose, Targeted Transport Passenger Measures, Northamptonshire County Council, Riverside House, Riverside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton, NN1 5NX.

Last week the authority announced measures on how it could provide public transport on greatly reduced budgets by combining traditional bus services, community transport and innovative demand response services.

The venues and dates of the meetings are:

* Monday, 9 May, 10am-12noon The Tithe Barn, Wellingborough NN8 1AH

* Thursday, 12 May 10am-12noon Corby Cube, George Street, Corby NN17 1QG

* Friday, 13 May 2.30-4.30pm The Town Hall, Market Place, Brackley NN13 7AB

* Monday, 16 May 10am-12noon The Council Chamber, Daventry District Council, Lodge Road, Daventry, NN11 4FP

* Monday, 16 May 2pm-4pm The Cornmarket Hall, London Road, Kettering NN15 7QA

* Tuesday, 17 May 2.30-4.30pm Nene Centre, Cedar Drive, Thrapston NN14 4JY

* Wednesday, 18 May 2pm-4pm The Town Hall, 86 Watling Street, Towcester NN12 6BS

* Monday, 23 May 2.30-4.30pm The Court Room, The Guildhall, St Giles Square, Northampton NN1 1DE

The authority has examined every settlement in the county and used a number of criteria to assess what sort of transport would provide the best solution for a particular area.

People have until May 27 to comment on the proposals and it is expected that the new transport systems would be introduced in September.

Cllr Heather Smith, county council cabinet member for highways, minerals and waste, said: “People are understandably concerned about the proposals and we hope that these events will help them to better understand what is planned.

“For many people, their bus service will be unchanged and for some of the rural areas, where we are proposing to introduce demand responsive systems, people may find that they have opportunities to make journeys which they can’t do by public transport at present.”

To have say on the future of public transport in Northamptonshire please go to the dedicated web page here.

People can also write to the council at: You Choose, Targeted Transport Passenger Measures, Northamptonshire County Council, Riverside House, Riverside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton, NN1 5NX.