Corby town centre levelling up projects including sixth form centre and community hub scaled-back

Plans for a £1.5m community building and a £9.5m sixth form college in Corby have both been scaled back among cost pressures.

Funding for the ‘multi-use hub’ and the college are coming from the Towns Fund – part of a £20m pot via the government’s Levelling-Up department.

The new community and cultural hub was originally going to be a newly-built, modern facility based on the green space next to the Willow Place car park.

The Market Walk East Site was chosen because it was a key, undeveloped gateway site. It was to be used as a space for use of start-up and small arts, creative, cultural, charity and youth facilities.

But now it has emerged that plan has been ditched and the cash will be used to convert three upper floors of Grosvenor House – a building already owned by North Northamptonshire Council which has several Town Deal board members and overall responsibility for administering the fund locally.

It is unclear exactly when the plan was changed but it appears to have been as a consequence of the town being handed only £19.9m of the original £25m bid. Other sites put forward were the empty TJ Hughes building in Queen’s Square and the Corby Cube – both buildings managed by members of the board.

It has also now become clear that the £9.5m sixth form centre due to be opened in Chisholm House has also recently been scaled-back. Despite being given the go-ahead by planners in June, there will no longer be an extension into Market Walk because of budgetary constraints.

Planning documents show that the new staircase and entrance lobby have been jettisoned. Documents state: “Following the permission granted in June 2022, further cost analysis was developed and the scheme previously submitted and approved had to be revised to suit budget restraints. The scheme is principally the same: the conversion of the first and second floor of Chisholm House, but without the large extension on the south east corner.”

Despite being responsible for a total grant of almost £20m, meetings of the Town Deal Board are held behind closed doors and no agendas are published in advance. Members of the board are not all democratically-elected, with many drawn from business and the arts.

Although minutes are published online, none have been uploaded to the Town Board website since August when a report on the multi-use hub was pulled from the agenda and promised at a forthcoming meeting.

The overall Levelling Up pot of £19.9m will be used for four projects which include; £9.5m for the new sixth form centre in the town centre; £8.59m for a controversial cycle lane from the town to the station; £310,000 for the Smart and Connected Corby project; and £1.5m for the multi-use hub.

Executive members will hear a report on the multi-use hub at their meeting on Thursday (December 22) which states: “Grosvenor House was the chosen site for the multi-use building which is in NNC’s ownership.

"Talks continue with potential tenants wishing space within this building. Once funding has been approved, we will evaluate potential tenants through soft market testing and a comprehensive feasibility study will also be carried out with a specialist consultant to look at various areas of this project in depth.

"The investment, if approved by DLUHC, into a multi-use building would revitalise this area of Corby. It would be transformational in terms of supporting third sector uses under the same roof, making it easier for the public to access these different charities and resources.

"It would also give permanent accommodation for a modern cultural venue.”

Corby does now have an existing town centre community centre, although every other area of the town does. It also doesn’t have a natural home for third-sector organisations since the volunteer bureau closed.

If the executive agrees, the council will now draw up a business case to, but it will not go before members again before it is submitted to the Department for Levelling-Up. Instead, the final details will be decided by the council’s finance boss Janice Gotts and Executive Director of Place and Economy George Candler.