Semilong Northampton Twinned With St. Peters Leicester

SEMILONG.ORG was launched in December 2008 to present the true face of Semilong Northampton, covering positive news but also highlighting neighbourhood issues even in some cases if that meant showing neighbourhood problems and issues that residents and visitors have to suffer.

Other neighbourhood groups in Semilong Northampton have shyed away from this approach. Indeed after one meeting we were told in an analogy "If you were selling your car, would you tell people about the car's bad points?" Our reply was of course "We would tell people the truth and include the car's good and bad points" This was clearly the difference, SEMILONG.ORG believe in telling the whole truth rather than just the pleasant truth.

These old groups do of course have their own agenda and are none to keen on SEMILONG.ORG with its fresh vibrant no-nonsense and truthful approach to highlighting neighbourhood issues as a path to solving the community's long suffered problems.

We looked at other neighbourhood groups nationally and found others with the same views as us. One is STPETERSNM.COM, a group based in St Peters in Leicester. They have been running since February 2007 and are very successful in shaping the way forward in St Peters, working with service providers and yet challenging them to provide a better service whilst reporting on what's happening in their neighbourhood, all in a truthful no nonsense way. This was a neighbourhood group that clearly matched our own ideals.

STPETERSNM.COM initially advised SEMILONG.ORG in regard to technical issues and regarding best practice. We, however, wished to further this support and mentoring to a team working approach which would be more beneficial to both neighbourhood groups.

After months of behind the scenes work SEMILONG.ORG can now announce we are a member of a new Twinning Partnership Initiative.

The revolutionary concept is based on the idea that a number of benefits can be realised by geographically diverse neighbourhood groups coming together to share ideas and solutions as well as publicity of our respective issues and successes.

SEMILONG.ORG Visit St Peters Leicester

In January 2009 members of SEMILONG.ORG visited our twinned area of ST PETERS in LEICESTER and were given a tour of the area. Many of us were surprised by the scale of the litter problem, the overfull bins, as well as other issues such as inconsiderate parking.

We also heard of the approach that STPETERSNM.COM takes to address those issues and agreed the methods were the right course to take.

We wish to thank STPETERSNM.COM for showing us around St Peters and are sure we will visit regularly now we are working together under the same collaborative umbrella.

STPETERSNM.COM Visit Semilong Northampton

SEMILONG.ORG also wish to thank the several residents that gave their honest views of life in Semilong Northampton to a STPETERSNM.COM group when we were able to show the group around our neighbourhood.

The issues that we highlighted to them included flytipping, litter, pot holes in the roads, graffiti on several walls, doors and garages, and the overgrown greencaping.

St. Peters In Leicester...