About Us

North Northamptonshire Council

North Northamptonshire Council is an ambitious unitary council responsible for providing a range of public services to residents and businesses across North Northamptonshire. We serve a population of approximately 360,000 across a number of towns and villages and enjoy excellent connectivity being situated in the heart of the country.

North Northamptonshire Council was formed in April 2021, replacing Corby Borough Council, East Northamptonshire Council, Kettering Borough Council, the Borough Council of Wellingborough and Northamptonshire County Council. We deliver the services which were provided across the previous two-tiers of local government.

The services we provide include:

  • Adult Social Care
  • Collection and disposal of household waste
  • Customer service and contact centres
  • Cultural and heritage services
  • Education
  • Environmental services
  • Highways
  • Libraries
  • Maintaining parks and open spaces
  • Planning services
  • Public health and wellbeing
  • Revenues and benefits services
  • Street cleaning

Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) provides a range of children’s services and is funded by North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

Through one council, we are transforming these services for the better and delivering them in a joined-up and cost-effective way.

Our vision for North Northamptonshire is:  A place where everyone has the best opportunities and quality of life.

For more information please view the Corporate Plan - Introduction section of our website.

Political make-up

May 2021 saw the first elections to North Northamptonshire Council, with 78 new councillors being elected across 26 electoral wards. The next set of scheduled local government elections will be held in May 2025.

The current political composition of the council is:

  • Conservative: 57
  • Labour: 14
  • Green Alliance : 5 (comprising 3 Green, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent)
  • Independent : 1

The Leader of the Council is Councillor Jason Smithers.

Our ambition and commitment to a shared BIG50 Future Vision

The council has set out its ambition, key commitments and corporate priorities in its Corporate Plan. This was developed early on in the life of the unitary council. It was developed following a meaningful consultation with local residents and businesses.

The council is now working as part of a cross-sector steering group to deliver an ambitious vision for the future of North Northamptonshire for 2050. This vision is known as the BIG50 Future Vision and cuts across organisations and sectors. A vision has been developed and partners are now working together to start more collaborative work to tackle the root cause of issues in the area. Prevention is a key theme.The BIG50 Future Vision to deliver the best life for all in North Northamptonshire is supported by three key priorities:

  • Proud place
  • Prosperous place
  • Proactive place.

Our Values and Behaviours

At North Northamptonshire Council, we felt it was vitally important that our staff had the opportunity to help shape the organisation’s values, as well as ask the public and wider stakeholders for their feedback.

An all-staff survey and stakeholder focus groups were carried out along with a public survey. A clear set of values were identified which all our stakeholders felt were most important.

The opportunity to provide broad participation in the development of the council’s future values was seen as an essential first step. North Northamptonshire Council’s values state that the council and its staff will be:

  • Customer-focused
  • Respectful
  • Efficient
  • Supportive
  • Trustworthy.

Our area

North Northamptonshire has a wealth of rich heritage, diverse culture and wonderful places to explore, and they are all within easy reach.

Budget highlights 2024/25

The council has recently set its budget for 2024/25. The main headlines within the budget are:

  • A balanced general fund budget for 2024/25, with funding supporting net spend requirements of £375.3m (excluding the DSG).
  • Further investment of circa £62.6m to both protect vital services and invest in service change and improvement. This allows for demand and cost increases in services, most notably investment in Adult Social Care (£28.7m) and Children’s Services (£15.1m).
  • Cost pressures and service investment are, in part, offset by savings, efficiencies and income generation of £23.8m, this includes the continuation of savings already included as part of the 2024/25 medium term financial plan and which remain deliverable, with the remainder being met through improved business rates income, council tax income and Government grants.
  • An investment in Social Care which recognises a 9.8% increase in the National Living Wage from 1 April 2024 to £11.44 per hour.
  • An increase in Council Tax consisting of 2.99% for the ‘core’ council tax and 2% for the Adult Social Care precept, which results in a new Band D equivalent Council Tax of £1,740.22, an average weekly increase of £1.59 (based on Band D equivalent).
  • No change to the Local Council Tax Support Scheme which will continue at 25%.
  • Inclusion of a contingency to mitigate against unforeseen cost pressures totalling £4.1m. This is equivalent to over 1% of the council’s net budget and recognises the risks posed by the wider economy and rising demand.
  • The use and retention of reserves to support non-recurring investment in service improvement, fund time limited projects, pump-prime schemes and help manage risk both in year and across years.
  • Officers will continue to seek efficiencies in order to help address the budget requirement from 2025/26 and into future years.

For more information, please visit the Budget for 2024/25 section of the website.