West and North Northamptonshire Councils react as county not included in Government's devolution deal

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Northamptonshire has missed out on being part of the Government’s fast-track devolution programme, after disagreements between local councils on where the combined authority boundaries should be.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the House of Commons today (February 5) the six regions that had made it on the priority programme, which will likely see mayoral elections come into effect in May 2026.

A bid for a new South Midlands Authority, which could have included West Northamptonshire, North Northamptonshire, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes, was placed but did not feature in the Minister’s speech.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Both West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) and North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) have now announced that they will continue to work with partners in the region to explore a devolution bid.

Leader of West Northamptonshire Council Adam Brown (left) and Leader of North Northamptonshire Council Jason Smithers.
 Credit: WNCLeader of West Northamptonshire Council Adam Brown (left) and Leader of North Northamptonshire Council Jason Smithers.
 Credit: WNC
Leader of West Northamptonshire Council Adam Brown (left) and Leader of North Northamptonshire Council Jason Smithers. Credit: WNC

Angela Rayner said: “Since I launched the devolution white paper I’ve been overwhelmed by the excitement of communities wanting to join the devolution revolution.

“These places will get a fast-track to drive real change in their area.

"The outcome is simple, it’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, and putting politics back in the service of working people.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The six regions placed on the priority programme are Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.

North Northants and West Northants councils submitted devolution bids with Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes in January.
 Credit: Nadia Lincoln LDRSNorth Northants and West Northants councils submitted devolution bids with Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes in January.
 Credit: Nadia Lincoln LDRS
North Northants and West Northants councils submitted devolution bids with Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes in January. Credit: Nadia Lincoln LDRS

In January, in an eleventh-hour decision, Luton, Milton Keynes and Bedford councils joined together to submit their own expression of interest for a smaller group, excluding Northamptonshire from their plans altogether.

Both the SMA and Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) deals were not successful in the first tranche.

Leader of West Northants Council, Cllr Adam Brown said: “Our position is very clear now, we’ll be going back to the other authorities within the South Midlands and asking them to come together as a six, which is what we initially asked to do.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“In our discussions with ministers there still seems to be a strong preference from government to get together as a South Midlands area.

"We respect that the leaders in Milton Keynes and Luton especially wanted to pursue an alternative, but I think now is the time to be pragmatic and move forward on a South Midlands geography which is really well established.”

He said that the reasons for the fast-track programme refusal were ‘anticipated’, including the non-unanimous proposals and the potential to leave Northamptonshire as a ‘devolution island’ if it was not included.

He added: “The people who did really want to pursue that BLMK deal and were hopeful of getting it over the line today, it’s probably a bit too soon to already start looking at other opportunities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We’ll allow the dust to settle. We do have a little bit more time now so we don’t have to rush things.”

Jason Smithers, leader of North Northants Council, told the LDRS that the county has ‘missed an opportunity’ on the devolution priority programme, but that the government’s door is ‘still open’.

“If you look at the government white paper there’s some clear outlines of what would make the perfect combined authority or mayoral authority and there’s some pretty simple figures in there are population size and so on.

"As a South Midlands Authority involving six councils, we meet all of the government’s requests.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’ll regroup and see where we go from here. Definitely, I will still be working towards a devolution deal with government- I’d rather have us manage that deal than have something done to us.

“This is a very exciting time to be working collaboratively with neighbouring unitary councils and the move towards devolution fits perfectly with our BIG 50 aspirations.

"I will put the residents of North Northamptonshire first and that will be paramount in my mind whenever we’re looking to do any deal.”

Both leaders said that there were no solid time scales for progressing the deal, but that having a May 2027 mayoral election was not ‘out of the question’.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1897
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice