Caswell comment window, a care deadline, and a full NN12 diary

Happy Wednesday, Towcester & NN12.

We are on Instagram and Facebook now, @towcesterwaffle on both. Follow along, and pass those posts to other NN12 people: Instagram and Facebook.

This week the useful bits are a Caswell hazardous-substances application still open to comment until Friday, an adult social-care consultation that closes today, Heritage Open Days from Friday, and a weekend of market, Bite Street, racecourse and Mill. We check the dates so you do not have to.

Reply with a tip if we have missed something local, then invite a neighbour, friend, family member or colleague to subscribe to The Towcester Waffle. The more of NN12 reads, the better connected our town becomes.

Right. Let's get into it.

Lumentum Technology Limited has applied to West Northamptonshire Council for hazardous-substances consent at Caswell Office, Caswell, Towcester, NN12 8EQ, to increase existing storage and use of hydrogen (30,000kg), arsine (2,000kg) and phosphine (4,000kg).

This is an application, not an approval and not an incident. You can inspect a copy at the Caswell office during reasonable hours until Friday 11 September, and send representations to West Northamptonshire Council Development Management (South Northamptonshire Area), The Forum, Moat Lane, Towcester, NN12 6AD by the same date. The council then decides whether to grant consent, and on what conditions.

If it matters to you, the window is this week. Silence is very easy to file away.

BLM GROUP UK Ltd has moved its registered office to 15 Old Station Road, Towcester, NN12 6QU — Companies House shows the change from Ampthill on 14 April 2026. The company's own site lists the same Towcester address. PES Media has the same Ampthill-to-Towcester move, with showroom and training at the new site.

BLM is an Italian tube and sheet-metal machinery group; the UK company has been going since 1997. This is HQ now in Towcester, not an opened-today ribbon-cutting. BLM's UK open house runs 6–8 October at the new facility if you want the forward date in the diary.

Heritage Open Days run from 11 to 20 September, with more than 60 free activities across West Northamptonshire. The council's list names three that sit in or next to town. All free.

Towcester Museum is on that county list. A chance to get inside a place most of us walk past.

The Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation is holding an open day on the engineering legacy of the Rolls-Royce co-founder. West Northamptonshire Council says Towcester. The foundation itself is at Hunt House, 70 High Street, Paulerspury, so that is the one to put in the satnav, not a town-centre doorway.

Towcester Library has an exhibition on Ashby Cars, the local maker. Easy to pair with a normal library visit.

Full listings sit on the Heritage Open Days and Discover Northamptonshire sites. If you only do one, pick the one you can actually get to.

West Northamptonshire Council's live roadworks list has Taunton Way and Towcester Road at Whittlebury on off-peak carriageway works until Friday 11 September (roughly 8.30am–1.30pm). That is the practical school-run watch for the rest of this week. Allow extra time and check the live map.

Signs from the new roundabout just south of Towcester, on the Plum Park side, are warning of overnight works covering Tuesday 15 September. The council lists an A5 Towcester to Old Stratford diversion overnight from Monday 14 September to Friday 18 September. Check the signs on the night.

Queens Road works on the main are listed from 11pm Sunday 13 September until 10.59pm Friday 18 September, with diversions via Brackley Road and Richmond Road. A short note for next week, not this week's lead.

Betway Towcester Racecourse has named its first National Hunt fixture for Wednesday 20 October 2027, with six leased meetings across the 2027/28 jumps season: 20 October, 30 November and 16 December 2027, then 16 January, 4 February and 15 February 2028.

The dates are real progress after nearly a decade without Rules racing, and they are still subject to a British Horseracing Authority licence. Point-to-point is aimed for spring 2027 ahead of that return. Circle the October date. Do not treat the licence as done.

Saracens beat Northampton Saints 96–42 at StoneX on Saturday 5 September in Round 1 of the PREM Rugby Cup. Saints led 28–19 at half-time, then Saracens ran in 11 second-half tries. Saints still took a try bonus point out of a long afternoon. Saracens' match report and Phil Dowson's reaction in the Chronicle tell the same story: plenty to learn, quickly.

The next Saints cup game is away again: Harlequins on Saturday 12 September, 4.45pm, live on TNT Sports. Franklin's Gardens is still in village-build mode, so the opening cup rounds stay on the road. A mid-afternoon kick-off in London, not a Gardens Saturday.

Men's 1sts won 6–2 away at Bedford 3 on Saturday 5 September. A proper early-season away win.

Ladies 1sts beat Towcester Ladies 2 3–0 at 10am on Saturday 5 September, then beat Khalsa Leamington 2 3–0 at 11.45am. Two clean home results. Useful start to the season.

Away at Geddington 2nds on Saturday 5 September, Towcestrians 1st XI chased 179 and finished on 180/7 for the Division Six win. Proper chase. Proper result.

The consultation on your day service closes midnight Wednesday 9 September. Day services at Towcester Forum are named in the council's review write-up, alongside other in-house services across the county.

If you use the Forum, or someone you care for does, get a response in. The council says it will report to Cabinet later this year.

West Northamptonshire libraries' Summer Reading Challenge runs until Saturday 12 September. This year's theme is Read to the Beat. If your child is mid-challenge, finish at Towcester Library before the weekend closes it out. Certificate, and a medal for main Challenge finishers, still on the table.

WNC is asking families on Universal Credit to apply for free school meals for 2026/27, including if you applied before 1 June under the old rules. The apply page still splits Targeted and Expanded criteria, so do not treat any single income figure as a hard stop — check the form. Term is underway; do not assume last year's form still covers it. Apply via WNC's free school meals page.

WNC, FCC Environment and Baby Basics Northampton are taking pre-loved baby items at six recycling centres, including the Towcester tip. Clean clothes (0–3 months), unopened nappies and toiletries, moses baskets, baths and sterilisers (no electricals), plus moses-basket bedding. Book the usual tip slot, then look for the donation point. Better in a starter pack than in a skip.

Walfinch's Thrive Club runs free seated exercise on Fridays at the Sawpits Centre, Towbury Lane / Richmond Road, Towcester, NN12 6EX, from 11.30am. Aimed at adults who want a gentler class. No membership push in the Chronicle write-up, just turn up. A useful Friday habit if stairs and circuits are not your thing.

West Northamptonshire Council says DBS requirements changed on 1 September. The supervision exemption has been removed for people working with children, so clubs and community groups should review their arrangements. The change covers people who teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children more than three times in 30 days, or overnight between 2am and 6am. Some of those roles may now need an Enhanced DBS check with a Children's Barred List check, even when supervised.

Rotary Towcester Farmers’ Market — Fri 11 Sep, 9am–1.30pm, Sponne Shopping Arcade. Rotary says Cheese on Towces’, The Green Machine Refill, Animal Nutrition, Gin52 and others.

Bite Street — Fri 11–Sun 13 Sep, Bell Plantation, Watling Street (NN12 6GX). Ticketed; under-10s free; free parking; dogs on a lead welcome. Hours: Fri 5.30–9.30pm; Sat 1–9.30pm; Sun noon–4.30pm. Pairs with Fun at the Finish Line the same Saturday.

Fun at the Finish Line — Sat 12 Sep, midday–6pm, Towcester Racecourse (NN12 6LB). Free entry; advance booking preferred. DJ and Towcester Town Studio Brass Band, games, llamas, Hugo the Shire horse, food and greyhound racing.

Folk at the Mill — Sun 13 Sep, 2–5pm, Towcester Mill Brewery. Free, no tickets. Jenkinson's Folly and co-hosts for the monthly session on Heritage Open Days weekend.

Early Years Advice Clinic (0–5) — Wed 9 Sep, 1–2.30pm, Towcester Family Hub at The Forum. Free Eventbrite booking. Confidential 1:1 advice on development, behaviour, routines and local services. Also register with Family Hubs if you have not already: Towcester Family Hub.

Rotary CYCLE4Polio — Sat 24 Oct, 8am–4pm, Towcester Leisure Centre (Milton Way, NN12 6UW). £5 for a 25-minute cycle slot; sponsorship welcome; 34 places. Register by emailing [email protected] or via Leisure Centre reception.

European Le Mans Series — Fri 11–Sun 13 Sep, Silverstone. A 47-car endurance weekend with an open paddock. Ticketed.

The Met Office Towcester forecast for Wednesday 9 September looks mostly dry with sunny intervals and a top around 19°C. Thursday is another bright day around 20°C, with rain more likely into the evening. Friday starts with a chance of leftover rain before turning better for the market (high around 21°C). Saturday and Sunday look largely dry and mild for Finish Line, Bite Street and Folk, highs around 21–22°C, though forecasts still shift.

Useful version for the diary: Wednesday suits the Family Hub clinic and getting consultation responses in. Friday morning may be damp early, then the weekend looks fair for outdoor plans.

Two clocks are running on the same Wednesday.

One is easy to ignore: a consultation on adult social care that includes Towcester Forum day services, closing today. The other is sharper and still open until Friday: a hazardous-substances application at Caswell that anyone can inspect and write in about.

Neither is a drama. Both are the boring, useful kind of local power, the kind that only works if people who use the Forum, live near Caswell, or care about either bother to put something on the record. The council will still decide. Your silence just makes that decision easier to wave through.

Meanwhile the diary is doing what September diaries do: Heritage Open Days from Friday, a Rotary market and Bite Street from Friday, a family afternoon at the racecourse on Saturday, folk at the Mill on Sunday. The town is not short of ways to show up. Pick one that is an errand and one that is a pleasure.

If The Waffle helps you stay ahead, invite a friend, neighbour, family member or local colleague to subscribe to The Towcester Waffle and help keep more of NN12 informed, connected and heard. Tips, corrections and local notices welcome. Reply to this email.

— Atlas & Lee, somewhere in NN12