North Northamptonshire Community Governance Review

Overview

North Northamptonshire Council is undertaking a Community Governance Review. A Community Governance Review is a process which provides an opportunity to review, create and make changes to the governance arrangements for town and parish councils and parish areas. It is a way for councils to assess whether local governance arrangements reflect local identities and interests of the community and are working as effectively and conveniently as they should.

We have the power to undertake such reviews under Part 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the relevant national guidance document.

What the Community Governance Review can and cannot change?

The review may consider the following:

• Creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes
• The electoral arrangements for parishes, including the ordinary year of elections; council size; the number of councillors to be elected; and parish warding
• The naming and style of new parishes
• Grouping or ungrouping of parishes
• Other type of arrangements, including parish meetings

The review cannot:

• Change the number of councillors on North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) or North Northamptonshire area ward boundaries
• Influence or change the amount of money that an existing town or parish council raise through council tax (known as precept) or change individual parish councillors

What will the review consider?

When reviewing community governance arrangements, we are required to consider:

• The impact on community cohesion of community governance arrangements; and
• Size, population and boundaries of a local community or parish

We are also required to ensure that community governance will be:

• Reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area; 
• Effective and convenient; and
• That any other forms of community representation (eg neighbourhood or residents associations) have also been considered.

Have your say

This is the first stage of consultation on the Community Governance Review. We are seeking the views of the public, town and parish councils, and any interested parties on whether they feel their communities are suitably represented and whether they would like to see any changes to their current governance arrangements.

You can have your say by sharing your views using the link at the bottom of this page.

Alternatively, you can email elections@northnorthants.gov.uk or write to us at:

Head of Electoral Services
North Northamptonshire Council
Municipal Offices
Bowling Green Road
Kettering
NN15 7QX

Following this first stage of consultation we will consider initial submissions and draft recommendations will be reported to the Democracy and Standards Committee. A second consultation, which will set out draft recommendations, will then be published for further representations.

For further information and to view the Terms of Reference please visit the Community Governance Review webpage.

To view the report which was presented to Council on 11 December 2025 please visit the Council meeting webpage.

This survey closes at 23.59 on 20 February 2026.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.

Please note that you will need to complete a separate form for each submission you would like to make.