BBC Local Live: Northamptonshire

Live updates for Northamptonshire have now finished for the week.

We'll be back on Monday at 08:00. Any breaking news will appear here through the evening and weekend.

You can scroll down through the day's events, but here are some of highlights:

• Cobblers fans "would like to stand at matches"
• Woman describes sex change operation
• A £94.1m scheme to reduce congestion on the M1 by making it a "smart motorway" has been delayed

New NHS figures show Northampton General Hospital cancelled 256 operations in the last quarter of 2016. 

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This compared with 282 the previous quarter, 229 in April to June 2016 and 207 between January and April last year. 

A spokeswoman for Northampton General Hospital said: “We are very sorry that there are times when we have to cancel appointments at very short notice.

"Unfortunately, we experience periods of extreme pressure when we simply have more patients than available beds.

"If your appointment has been cancelled, the likelihood is that we’ve had to use that bed space to admit an acutely unwell patient."

Further outbreaks of rain, sleet or snow and this could lead to a covering of snow in places across the BBC East region tonight.

It's also likely to turn quite murky at times with the risk of frost and ice, as temperatures fall. 

Minimum Temperature: -1C (30F).

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Saturday will be cold and cloudy with further wintry showers feeding in on a light-to-moderate north to north-easterly wind. 

These showers are likely to turn mainly to rain by the afternoon. 

Maximum Temperature 4C (39F).

More details from BBC Weather:

Fifty three years ago this month, a photographer caught on camera uppers being stitched at a shoe factory in Northampton. 

For hundreds of years the town was the centre of the British shoe-making industry.

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Northampton Saints' George North has taken part in light training ahead of Wales' Six Nations match against England in Cardiff tomorrow.

North is recovering from a dead leg and will be given until one hour before kick-off to prove his fitness.

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Northampton Saints play away tonight against Bath in the Premiership - a challenge which prop Kieran Brookes believes they can match. 

Brookes, 26, told PremiershipRugby.com: "The atmosphere at the club is very positive. 

"We reviewed the game from last weekend and found a lot of things we think we did well, but some things we can work on and improve heading back into the Premiership cycle.

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"Bath bring some huge challenges, especially up front, but we are going into the game with a lot of confidence and believe we can match those challenges."

He went on to say Saints need to show the same kind of attack they showed in the final 20 minutes of that game to get the win tomorrow.

A £94.1m scheme to reduce congestion on the M1 by making it a "smart motorway" has been delayed. 

As reported in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, the delay may extend to December.

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A statement on the Highways England website said: "We had aspired to complete phase one of the project (between junctions 16 and 19) by this Spring. 

"However, challenges to the project, including a delayed start to the work and additional essential maintenance works, have meant the programme has been extended to a revised completion date by the end of December 2017."

The hard shoulder in both directions will be converted to an extra traffic lane as part of the project.

Work started on the scheme in November 2015.

We knew it was cold, but here was the scene in Irchester this morning where a light smattering of snow was snapped by Weather Watcher DeeEmBee.

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And it's set to stay cold. This afternoon BBC Weather says during the afternoon the showers are likely to become more scattered and lighter, but it'll feel very cold in brisk winds.

Tonight it will be cloudy overnight with occasional snow showers continuing. Winds will strengthen by dawn and a widespread frost will form. It'll feel very cold, with a low of 0C (32F).

David from Northampton discovered he was a girl trapped in a boy's body at an early age.

He kept his secret for 40 years before finally coming out to his family and work colleagues. 

Last week he had major surgery to finally change him physically into a woman called Claire. He's been speaking to us about the operation...

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England player Alex Scott "would've loved the opportunity to have a competition like this when I was younger".

What's she talking about? The FA People's Cup - the country's biggest free five-a-side competition which gives you the chance to make your way to Wembley.

"When I was younger, playing in a football cage, the dream was always to play at Wembley," adds Scott.

"The FA People's Cup gives anyone the opportunity to sign up to a local team in your area. You don't have to rely on your mates.

"It's a chance to meet different people, socialise in different environments. It's more than just signing up, you can get so many benefits from it."

So what are you waiting for? Sign up for the FA People's Cup - but hurry as the deadline for entries is the 19 February!

Northamptonshire Police's football liaison officer says having "safe" standing areas at home games could be "brilliant". 

He said: "From a policing point of view... it saves that argument between a steward, who's trying to keep people safe by telling people to sit in a seated area.

"So if there's an area where people could stand, and support safely, brilliant, let's do it."

He added that as a fan, he'd like to see it introduced.

His comments follow a survey showing 85% of Cobblers fans would like standing introduced at Sixfields, echoing a new area developed at Celtic.

The government says it "remains unconvinced" by the case to reintroduce safe standing to the top two leagues of English football.

Northampton Town said it would be inappropriate to comment as it's just an idea by fans at this stage.

Standing at football matches brings a wealth of positives for supporters, says Tom Reed from the Cobblers Safe Standing group. 

He said: "The choice of being able to stand up or sit down, it negates quarrels between those that do want to stand and stewards that are trying to get them to sit down. 

"There's also the atmosphere side of things - a choir doesn't sit down to sing, it stands, and you know, people that are like-minded can congregate together in an area, so that's always a good thing to improve atmosphere. 

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"There's the safety side... if you stand up or celebrate a goal in an all-seater stadium, there's a trip hazard with a seat in front of you, so you can potentially fall down over your seat if someone pushes you by accident. 

"With safe standing, you negate that trip hazard, that's a good thing. And then probably the last thing for me is that in winter it gets really cold, so to stand up, you can jig about, not sit down in the seat with the cold going through you!"

Meanwhile, Northampton Town Football Club says it's only an idea by fans at present and has declined to comment. 

More now on the concept of safe standing at home games for Cobblers fans, who say they'd like "the choice".

Sixfields was built as an "all-seater" stadium following legislation passed in the wake of the Hillsborough Disaster. 

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But since then systems of "safe-standing", which are widely used in Germany, are here in the UK at Celtic.

Now 85% of Northampton Town fans surveyed by the supporters' trust say they'd like the option to stand.

James Averill, from the trust, said: "I think there's a growing demand for it and a wish to see supporters given the choice of whether to sit or stand at a match, and I think having that choice would be a good thing.

"We're seeing a growing demand in the Premier League for it as well."

Labour has won a council by-election in Corby.

Isabel McNab topped the poll in the Kingswood and Hazel Leys ward with 610 votes - 358 more than Conservative Stan Heggs in second place.

The Green Party's Michael Mahon came in third with 82 votes.

The seat on Corby Borough Council was left vacant when Kenneth Carratt was disqualified for not attending council meetings.

Northampton Town fans would like the choice of being able to stand at home games, a survey commissioned by the supporters trust has concluded.

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The Sixfields stadium was built as an all-seater stadium following legislation passed in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, but since then systems of safe-standing have been developed which are used widely in Germany and in the UK, at Celtic.

Tom Reed from the Cobblers Safe-Standing group, said: "The survey we conducted in alliance with the supporters trust speaks for itself. It came back with an 85% approval rating for the choice of safe standing.

"You can see a desire for people to stand, not just hear it... if you look at the North Stand at Cobblers matches, the Shoe Army are often on their feet."

Northampton Town Football Club said as it is only an idea at present, it would be inappropriate to comment.

Many places in the region saw a light dusting of snow yesterday and there'll be the risk of further wintry showers - not only today, but also into Saturday.

It will be cold and cloudy to start with, although we are mostly starting off with temperatures just about freezing. There could be some sleet around later, but generally the further west you are the drier it will tend to be.

The maximum temperature will be about 3C (37F), but in reality it will feel colder than that because of the bitterness of the easterly wind.

For more head to BBC Weather.