The long awaited decision has finally been made. Two brand new unitary councils will be established in Northamptonshire on 1 April 2021 (Vesting Day), the Government has confirmed. The North Northamptonshire unitary will cover Corby, East Northants, Kettering and Wellingborough and the West Northamptonshire unitary will cover Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire. The existing district and borough councils and Northamptonshire County Council will all be abolished.

The Secretary of State James Brokenshire has reviewed all the evidence and representations received, and has now decided that replacing the eight councils with two unitary authorities is in the best interests of the residents of Northamptonshire.

Parliamentary Orders will follow later this year and there will be elections to the Shadow Authorities in May 2020. Shadow Executives for the two unitaries will be selected from those elected and will determine the structure, budget and service delivery models for the new councils.

Services which complement one another but are currently divided between the district, borough and county councils, such as bin collections, waste disposal, planning and roads, will be brought together under each of the two unitary councils.

As Vesting Day has now ben confirmed as 1 April 2021, town and parish council elections will go ahead in May 2020.

The Joint Committee for North Northamptonshire will meet in the next few weeks. We will let you know when a first meeting date has been confirmed.