Daventry District was a local government district in western Northamptonshire, England, from 1974 to 2021. The district was named after its main town of Daventry, where the council was based. The district was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the historic municipal borough of Daventry with the Daventry Rural District and most of the Brixworth Rural District. The town of Daventry became an unparished area with Charter Trustees and remained so until 2003 when a civil parish was created, roughly corresponding with the boundaries of the former borough, so allowing Daventry to have its own town council.

Abolition and replacement

In March 2018, following suspension of the County Council arising from its becoming insolvent, due to financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers, the then Secretary of State for Local Government, Sajid Javid, sent commissioner Max Caller into the council, who recommended the county council and all district and borough councils in the county be abolished, and replaced by two unitary authorities, one covering the West, and one the North of the county. These proposals were approved in April 2019. It meant that the districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire were merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire, whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire consists of Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough districts. These new authorities came into being on 1 April 2021. Elections for the new authorities were due to be held on 7 May 2020, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These elections were later held on 6 May 2021.

Demography

At the 2011 Census, the district had a population of 77,843, a little under a third of whom (25,026) lived in the town of Daventry. Other significant settlements included Brixworth, Long Buckby and Weedon Bec. The rest of the district was predominantly rural.

Ethnicity

Housing

In 2007, the Council housing stock owned by the council was transferred to Daventry & District Housing Ltd., a specially formed registered social landlord, under a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer. A subsequent dispute about the provisions made in the transfer contract for employees' pensions led to a legal case heard in the England and Wales Court of Appeal concerning the legal doctrines of mutual or unilateral mistake.

Settlements

Political control

See Daventry District Council elections