Northamptonshire local government reform moves forward in Parliament - an update:
This week, Parliament gave the go-ahead for Northamptonshire’s new unitary councils to be formed, by passing the legislation required to replace Northamptonshire’s eight existing councils with two new unitary authorities on the 1st April next year.
The Northamptonshire Structural Changes Order has now been approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, enabling the creation of a new North Northamptonshire Council serving the areas of Corby, East Northants, Kettering and Wellingborough and a new West Northamptonshire Council serving Daventry District, Northampton and South Northants.
The two new unitary councils will start providing services to Northamptonshire’s residents and businesses on the 1st April 2021 when the eight existing district, borough and county councils will be abolished, but now the legislation has been approved, the next stage will be to set up two new ‘shadow’ councils to lead the work to create the two new unitaries. Elections will take place countywide on Thursday 7th May where residents will be able to vote for the councillors that sit on these new shadow councils.
In recent months, the eight existing councils have been working together to prepare for the new unitaries as part of the ‘Future Northants’ programme, which is currently in the design phase – to begin drafting how the services for the new unitary councils might be designed. You can find out how preparations are progressing and keep updated on the changes ahead on the ‘Future Northants’ website for North Northamptonshire at: futurenorthantsnorth.org.