Understandably, with the big changes to local government in the county coming on the 1st April, people locally have been asking how that work is progressing and what the new model will look like. I would imagine that in ‘normal times’ we would have heard more about this, but the news agenda is a crowded field at the moment in the difficult age of COVID-19, so I thought it would be useful to say something here to set out the latest developments on this important restructuring, given that the local elections, at the time of writing, are still expected to go ahead on the 6th May to the new North Northamptonshire Council (NNC). In the end, it may be that the COVID-19 outbreak requires the date of the elections to be shifted, but there are no plans currently for that to be the case.
With this change, in North Northamptonshire we will sadly be losing Corby Borough Council, East Northamptonshire Council, Kettering Borough Council and the Borough Council of Wellingborough, as well as Northamptonshire County Council, which covers the whole of our area presently. The new council will absorb and incorporate all those current district and borough council areas, but all of the existing town and parish councils will remain and some new town councils will be formed, such as in Corby. Those new town councils will pick up some very local, but still important, smaller-scale services that matter a lot to residents’ day-to-day lives, along with running many of the community events we all value and that we all hope will be able to recommence in the near future.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the key, bigger ticket services currently provided by the councils that are disappearing will come together and be provided by the new North Northamptonshire Council. You shouldn’t notice any change to your services on day one, but rather than them being split across two layers of local government as is the case now, they will all then be provided by one council. This should help to avoid any duplication and allow more funding to reach frontline services. Some services will make much more sense - for example, waste collection and disposal will all be done by one council, rather than separately by two.
Local democracy will continue to be at the heart of all this. There will be three elected councillors representing each of the existing Northamptonshire County Council divisions, which will be used as the electoral areas for the new council. There will be 26 electoral wards across North Northamptonshire, with three councillors per ward, totalling 78 councillors. You will be able to go to any of your three ward councillors with any issue or concern relating to local government in the future, which should make it much easier for residents to know who to contact.
I understand the Government has said that NNC will have core spending power of £264 million for 2021/22 and I am just awaiting all the finer detail. But this means more money will be spent in our area on local government services. Ultimately, we will have more efficient local government and more money to spend on our residents and their frontline priorities.
Over the years, so many local people have commented that many of the big decisions affecting our part of the county have been taken distantly from us, by people who don’t know or understand the area and our communities. And to be honest, they have often had a point and I can think of several examples over the years where decisions reached at County Hall haven’t been right for us. Whilst frustrating, that has sometimes been understandable, at least in the sense that councillors elected elsewhere in the county just don’t live or work here. The good news is that will no longer be the case. With this change, decisions about North Northamptonshire will be taken by people from North Northamptonshire, elected by North Northamptonshire residents. And even within that structure, I hope decisions will be taken as locally as possible, wherever possible, with planning being an obvious example. That should certainly be the ambition, although it will be for the newly elected councillors to ultimately decide on the arrangements.
For someone who served as a local borough councillor for eight years, it will be a sad moment as we say goodbye to our existing councils that in the most part have served us well for many years. In life there will always be points of disagreement, but my experience has always been that they are made up of dedicated, hardworking men and women - elected members and officers alike - who just want to do their best by their communities. I am hugely grateful for all the work they have, and continue to do. But with change comes opportunity and we must seize it with both hands. You can find more information as we move closer to the change at: https://futurenorthantsnorth.org, but one thing is for sure - this will be a unique and welcome chance to look at things afresh and do some things better.