North Northamptonshire is one of two local government districts in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. It was created in 2021. The council is based in Corby, the district's largest town. Other notable towns are Kettering, Wellingborough, Rushden, Raunds, Desborough, Rothwell, Irthlingborough, Thrapston and Oundle. North Northamptonshire borders the Peterborough, Rutland, Milton Keynes, Huntingdonshire, Bedford, Harborough, West Northamptonshire and South Kesteven. It has a string of lakes along the Nene Valley Conservation Park, associated heritage railway, the village of Fotheringhay which has tombs of the House of York as well as a towering church supported by flying buttresses. This division has a well-preserved medieval castle in private hands next to Corby – Rockingham Castle – and about 20 other notable country houses, many of which have visitor gardens or days.

History

North Northamptonshire was created on 1 April 2021 by the merger of the four non-metropolitan districts of Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, and Wellingborough. The new council took on the functions of these districts, plus those of the abolished Northamptonshire County Council within the area. The way these changes was implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan district and a non-metropolitan county covering the area, both called North Northamptonshire. There is no county council; instead the district council performs county-level functions, making it a unitary authority. North Northamptonshire remains part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty. In March 2018, following financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers at Northamptonshire County Council, 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 the former Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, and Wellingborough districts. The council logo depicts Rockingham Castle, the River Welland and a red kite. The red kite is a bird of prey that has become strongly associated with the county of Northamptonshire, and is particularly commonplace in the north-eastern parts of the county around Corby and Rockingham Forest.

Governance

North Northamptonshire Council provides both county-level and district-level services. The whole area is also covered by civil parishes, which form a second tier of local government.

Settlements and parishes

The parish councils for Burton Latimer, Corby, Desborough, Finedon, Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough, Kettering, Oundle, Raunds, Rothwell, Rushden, Thrapston and Wellingborough have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council".

Media

In terms of television, the area is served by BBC East and ITV Anglia which broadcast from the Sandy Heath transmitter. The Waltham transmitter can also be received which broadcasts BBC East Midlands and ITV Central programmes. Radio stations for the area are: North Northamptonshire is served by the following local newspapers: Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph and Northampton Chronicle and Echo.