Here's the Corby woman who'll head-up a team with £20m to improve the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter estates

Alex Bonner is the woman who will bring together members of the local community to find the best way to use £20m of Pride in Place funding over the next ten years.

She will help select members of the Neighbourhood Board, charged with spending the money to benefit the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter estates, which are included in the country’s most deprived areas.

The senior assistant principal at Kingswood Academy was born on the Beanfield Estate and attended Our Lady and Pope John school before going to Northampton University. She has been teaching for 20 years and has worked across the whole sector – in primary schools, running youth clubs, in pupil referral units and at the now-closed Corby Community College.

She believes the key to getting things right lies in listening to the next generation, and says she’s determined to learn from previous perceived mis-steps by the Town Board, which spent £8.3m of Government money on a much-maligned cycle lane.

"I want our young people in our school and our community to benefit from this money,” she said.

"The way I see it, is that I want the school to be a conduit that feeds out to our families in the wider community.”

The board will spend £2m for each of the next ten years and, after formulating a regeneration plan, they will have the power to spend the money on anything that could benefit the community, from buying up derelict buildings to increasing employment or investing in green spaces.

Anyone can apply to be on the board and it’s hoped that there will be a wide range of local representatives. MP Lee Barron will be on the board, as well as one local councillor, but the remainder of members will be made up entirely of local people.

Alex said: “We know that people don’t always trust politicians, but they do generally trust teachers to do the right thing for their children, which is why I thought it was important to get involved.

"We’re looking for people who have got an interest within the community. These estates are full of brilliant people. We know the statistics, but we need to stamp out that negativity and improve the are for everyone.

"We really want to make it as inclusive and transparent as possible.

Alex has already canvassed her students for some early thoughts on the schemes and on their list of ideas was safety.

"If these young people don't feel safe walking around the area then we can’t expect them to feel proud of it,” said Alex.

“Corby people always come together. It’s our strength.

"We really want people to feel they have been listened to. We want people to have pride in place, pride in ourselves and pride in our future.”

Lee Barron said that he hoped that Corby was on the up, with the arrival of the money and of key new employers in the town.

He said: “Pride in Corby will bring us £20m over ten years which will start to make an impact in 2027.

“We’ve got Nike opening their UK headquarters here. We hope people can start to look around and see positive differences. What we have here is hopefully something really exciting for the future.

“The good thing about this money is the power it brings with it. If there are derelict community buildings that can be brought back into use then this money can pay for that.

"Securing it was a proud achievement for us. We’ve always promised it would be community driven and that’s why I’m delighted to hand it over to Alex.

"We know there so much apathy towards politics and we have got to give then something to believe in.”