Senior leaders give verdict on North Northants Council on fifth anniversary of unitary authority

Hastened by Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) going bankrupt, the aptly-named then-minister for local government James Brokenshire announced in early 2019 the abolition of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough borough councils and East Northants District Council, along with the county council, and replacing them with two unitary authorities.

The under-one-roof unitary authority model merged county council services such as education, highways, health and social care for children and adults, with borough and district councils’ responsibilities of waste, recycling and planning applications.

Northamptonshire lost seven councils, alongside NCC, and was split into two – West Northants Council (South Northamptonshire, Northampton Borough and Daventry) and North Northants Council covering Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough).

So as North Northants Council (NNC) marks five years, has Mr Brokenshire’s vision of providing the ‘sustainable high-quality local services residents deserve’ come to fruition?

The Northants Telegraph asked five key figures who shaped local authorities before, during and after the switch to unitary to give their verdicts on the change.

Elected to borough and county councils, some were part of the shadow authority, set up as a pre-cursor to the actual unitary to put in place the policies and structures that would be needed.

In the intervening years, the political make-up of NNC has changed from a Conservative majority and a sizeable Labour opposition, to the turquoise landslide of Reform UK in 2025 coming from nowhere to make huge gains in traditional Tory and Labour heartlands.

Giving their verdicts are:

Martin Griffiths – current leader of Reform-run NNC

Cllr Griffiths was Conservative leader of the Borough Council of Wellingborough, playing a role on the shadow authority before leaving the Tories to sit as an independent councillor. In December 2024, he pledged his allegiance to Reform UK. He is in a unique position of having both sat on the furthest backbench and then been thrust to power as NNC leader.

He said: “Five years is an important milestone and although we are mindful of the history and the sound progress that has been made in the improvement of public services in North Northamptonshire, I know that our residents expect more from their local council and this is very much the centre of our focus.

“Being a new council has been quite a journey. There’s no doubt that local government needed to be reformed to make it work better and become even more efficient and unitary councils are seen as the best way of doing this right across the country.

“We’ve seen massive advantages to being one council covering the North Northamptonshire area. Now people know where to come and there’s a lot less confusion about who provides what.

“I’ve been in a position of having been a leader of one of the successful legacy councils, an independent councillor for North Northamptonshire Council from the start of the authority and now council leader.”

Reflecting on the challenges the unitary reorganisation has brought, he added: “We all face challenges in life: individually, as organisations, areas and a country as a whole. We all face a lot of challenges at the moment but I think collaboration is the key to making our area the best it can be.

“I’m proud of the excellent relationship between staff and councillors and we have a flourishing apprenticeship programme in place to help grow talent within the organisation.

“We can do more for North Northamptonshire and this is something we are committed to doing. We don’t stop, we keep on improving.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has been part of this incredible journey, both past and present. Their ongoing support and collaboration have played a vital role in shaping the area’s growth and ensuring services continue to evolve.”

Lloyd Bunday – former Kettering Conservative councillor

Lloyd Bunday served on Kettering Borough Council, the shadow authority and as executive member for finance and transformation on North Northamptonshire Council. Left with a large debt burden – a hangover from the county council – he had set a balanced budget just before elections in May 2025, when he lost his seat. He thinks Reform UK ‘lied’ to get into power.

He said: “From 2021 onwards I was in charge of a £1.4bn finance portfolio – that’s cash in and cash out. NCC had racked up £465m in debts.

“We had reduced the debt from the county council by £70m. Local government finances are like an oil tanker, you can’t just reverse.”

Although he admits his stress levels have ‘gone through the floor’ he is frustrated by the promises made nationally by Reform UK to get rid of waste.

He said: “They needed to put up the council tax by the maximum. I remember the days when you could put up the council tax by the amount you needed to.

“Now central government predicates on putting the council tax up by the maximum. There’s not an awful lot you can change.

“The majority is spent on adult social care and children’s services.”

Mr Bunday believes that Kettering Borough Council’s (KBC) finances were in better shape than other authorities before the switch to unitary.

He said: “Kettering Borough Council was in a far more stable position than others. There was an qualified audit of Corby Borough Council and the valuations were all over the place. They didn’t have a clue what they were doing. There were all sorts of things going on – what the team inherited was just dire.

“The county council was obviously the catalyst because it went bust. There was financial mismanagement all over the county.

“Kettering Borough Council was in a good financial position, others weren’t. I always say it was like they blew everything on the honeymoon, and didn’t think about married life.

“The reset needed to happen but the unitary moved the representation away from the people. It had to happen but there’s still a disconnect between the voting population and the councillors.”

Steven North – former Conservative leader of East Northants District Council

Steven North said: “I can’t believe it’s been five years. I was leader of East Northants District Council (ENDC) I feel we were heading down the road of no choice. ENDC was a small well-run local authority and delivered good services locally.

“We had £30m in reserves and we were quite happy. But unitary had to be done because of the county council. It was broken and had a debt burden.”

Mr North is critical of the lack of face-to-face customer service.

He said: “There’s been a customer avoidance strategy – there’s less customer services. I think governments are heading down this ‘bigger is better’ road. I don’t think bigger is better.

“Being bigger hasn’t saved money. You can argue all the services are under one roof but we had a drain of people [council employees].

“There was supposed to be a massive transformation. We were told ‘we will do things differently’, ‘we will be bold’.”

Mr North thinks increased demands on council resources could see choice-based services reduced to nothing with budgets spent solely on statutory services like child and adult social care. Costs are spiralling, we were supposed to drive the costs down.

“I think Reform is doing alright. It’s not a disaster. They are stuck with the adults and children costs. What can you do?

“They didn’t cut taxes, they have carried on generally with the previous policies. They don’t have a great deal of money to play with.”

Tom Beattie – former leader of Corby Borough Council

Now happily retired, Tom Beattie led Corby Borough Council, the only council to oppose formally the formation of the unitary, which was the only Labour-run authority in North Northants. They proposed a combined authority model, but it was rejected.

Mr Beattie said: “Corby Borough Council didn’t join in the request to become a unitary. In Corby 95 per cent didn’t want it, but I knew it was a done deal. We were led kicking and screaming to unitary.

“I don’t think Corby has prospered under the new arrangement. The new council has its focus on other things. We had a clear focus on regeneration.

“When I talk to people in the town there’s a complaint that it’s ‘not like it was’.

“People want to talk to a human being. It’s like every organisation – your bank or whoever – it’s frustrating.

“It’s impersonal and it’s big. The borough council had much more focus on people. I don’t think bigger is better.”

Mr Beattie thinks the county council could have been ‘brought round’ with time.

He said: “I was a huge critic of the county council. Their attitude was that they were the adults in the room, and we were the children. They thought they knew better. We were talked down to. The reset was difficult and it was rushed. Even after five years, I don’t think they have managed to settle down.

“NNC has been given a difficult hand. It was always going to be a tough job.”

Cllr Jim Hakewill – currently Independent councillor for Mawsley and Rothwell

Jim Hakewill has been there, done that and got the sweatshirt. Former Conservative leader of Kettering Borough Council, he also served on Northamptonshire County Council. As an independent, he occupied the back bench next to Cllr Martin Griffiths in the first iteration of NNC. He now chairs the unitary authority’s scrutiny committee.

He said: “We had no option than to reorganise [the county council]. The concept that it was going to improve things was flawed.

“Reorganisation was not the answer to the problems with local government.

“From the government’s point of view it was an open goal. They wanted to reduce the number of councils and they used the financial instability [excuse].

“It was an embarrassment to the Conservative government that the Conservative county council had failed. They said it was exceptional – since then eight or nine have failed.

“In my opinion it hasn’t improved things, that’s because the funding is worse and worse. There’s not enough money to cover inflation and additional costs. It’s been a fudge. We are treading water.”

Reflecting on the first Conservative administration, he thinks opposition voices were ‘sidelined’ but he has praised the Reform leadership.

He said: “There’s a much more open attitude, they are constructive and ready to learn.”

Asked if he would be moving to Reform Cllr Hakewill added: “No, I will not – you can have that as an exclusive.”