New town council for Northampton – the largest in the UK – to hold first ever meeting next week

It will effectively act as a follow-on from the current borough council, which is being abolished on March 31st to make way for a much larger unitary authority called West Northamptonshire Council. This will see major services delivered and shared with the Daventry and South Northamptonshire areas.

The town council – the largest of its kind in the country as it represents a population of 130,000 – will take on more services that are not statutory such as parks, public spaces and community centres. It will also take on responsibility for much of the town’s heritage assets such as the mayoralty, which dates back 805 years, and artefacts inside the Guildhall. Discussion is ongoing as to whether ownership of the Guildhall itself is transferred to the new council, though it has been agreed in principle subject to cost estimations.

One of the distinct differences of the new town council is that until May next year, when elections will be held for the first time, it will be run by Labour shadow councillors. All other councils and shadow councils in West Northants are Conservative run. The twenty four councillors will be made up of existing borough councillors who represent the 21 wards, with larger areas such as Castle and Abington having three and two members respectively. Labour will have 14 councillors and the Conservatives will have eight, with two Liberal Democrats making up the numbers.

Councillor Danielle Stone, Labour’s ward member for Castle, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I think the town council is going to be really exciting and respond very quickly to local needs. I think it will develop services that people really want for their town and that support some of the statutory services that will be delivered by the unitary.

“This will be the largest town council in the country, so it will be hugely influential and it’s absolutely right that we have a big town council because we need Northampton to have a strong voice.”

The town council was set up as a response to the unitary reorganisation that was ordered by the Government, and designed to combat fears that local voices would be swallowed up by the much larger unitary. Two other smaller authorities, Far Cotton & Delapre Community Council and Kingsthorpe Parish Council, are also being formed. The town council will represent areas of the town that are not represented by their own parish council.

The Conservative leader of Northampton Borough Council, Jonathan Nunn, said: “The danger was that as we move to unitary it becomes a more strategic council rather than being close with the community and doing the nitty gritty. There was also a danger of increasing the gap between the haves and the have nots and it’s important for the more deprived areas in the town centre to have that representation.”

For some politicians it means they are currently sitting on four authorities – the existing borough and county councils, and the two shadow councils for Northampton Town and West Northamptonshire which will replace them.

The very first meeting of the shadow town council, which is being held virtually next Monday (December 7) due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, will see the appointment of an acting town clerk and finance officer, a mayor and deputy mayor who will also chair the meetings, and an executive committee made up of seven councillors.

The meeting is also expected to appoint external auditors, and approve a formal application to the College of Arms petitioning The Queen to grant the transfer of the town’s Coat of Arms from the borough council to the town council.