North Northamptonshire Council set to approve additional budget of £800,000 for highways and community facility improvements

North Northants Council (NNC) is set to approve more than £800,000 of capital works funded from grants and developer contributions this week.

A report going to the authority’s executive committee on Thursday (April 17) provides an update on the capital works expected in 2025/26.

An additional £445,000 has been allocated from grant funding for the Isham Bypass project to develop the outline business case for the Department for Transport (DfT).

The project currently has an approved budget of just over £5 million for the planning stage, but NNC says more money is needed to complete the application and undertake ecological surveys of the area.

The outline business case for the project was submitted at the end of last year. The extra funding will also allow officers to respond to the DfT’s queries about the plans and reach a determination.

Another highways proposal being addressed by the executive is the Warkton Lane traffic calming scheme in Kettering.

The project proposes to install traffic calming on the road, between the junctions with Deeble Road and St Catherine’s Road, in the Hanwood Park development.

The budget approval has been marked for £300,000 over the next two years.

All funding for the scheme is from Section 106 contributions from developers, which NNC has already received.

A further £62,700 from developer contributions is set to go towards improvements at Broughton Village Hall.

The Playing Fields and Village Hall Association has requested to use Section 106 monies to fund their extension of the village hall facilities to include new changing rooms.

Desborough Library has also asked for £53,000 in 2025/26 to increase the capacity and use of the children’s area and create new accessible toilets.

NNC has confirmed that the project can also use developers’ contributions to help fund the works.

The executive is recommended to approve all capital requests to allow the schemes to move forward with procurement and delivery.

There is no new borrowing identified in the report.