Borough of Wellingborough

The Borough of Wellingborough is a Non-metropolitan district and borough in Northamptonshire, England. It is named after Wellingborough, its main town, but also includes surrounding rural areas.

Borough of Wellingborough
Borough
Shown within Northamptonshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Ceremonial county	Northamptonshire
Admin. HQ	Wellingborough
Government
• Type	Borough Council of Wellingborough
• Leadership:	Alternative - Sec.31
• Executive:	Conservative
• MPs:	Peter Bone
• Leader of the Council	Cllr. Martin Griffiths
Area
• Total	62.9 sq mi (163.0 km^2)
Area rank	175th
Population  (mid-2019 est.)
• Total	79,707
• Rank	Ranked 290th
• Density	1,300/sq mi (490/km^2)
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code	34UH (ONS) E07000156 (GSS)
Ethnicity	90.8% White 4.5% S.Asian 2.5% Afro-Caribbean
Website	wellingborough.gov.uk

The local council prefers to call itself the 'Borough Council of Wellingborough' rather than the more usual form 'Wellingborough Borough Council'.

The borough covers almost the same area as the Wellingborough constituency. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the borough of Wellingborough with Wellingborough Rural District.

Abolition and replacement

In March 2018, following suspension of the County Council arising from its becoming insolvent, due to financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers, the then Secretary of State for Local Government, Sajid Javid, sent commissioner Max Caller into the council, who recommended the county council and all district and borough councils in the county be abolished, and replaced by two unitary authorities, one covering the West, and one the North of the county.[1] These proposals were approved in April 2019. It will mean that the districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire will be merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire, whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire will consist of Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough districts. These new authorities are due to come into being on 1 April 2021.[2] Elections for the new authorities were due to be held on 7 May 2020 but these were delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[3]

Concurrent with these changes, the currently unparished area of Wellingborough will be established as a civil parish and gain a new Town Council.[4]

Settlements and parishes

Other than Wellingborough itself the borough includes:

• Bozeat
• Earls Barton
• Easton Maudit
• Ecton
• Finedon
• Great Doddington
• Great Harrowden
• Grendon
• Hardwick
• Irchester
• Isham
• Little Harrowden,
• Little Irchester
• Mears Ashby
• Orlingbury
• Strixton
• Sywell
• Wilby
• Wollaston

Future developments

The Borough Council have approved major building work to the East of the main town of Wellingborough as part of the government's 'Milton Keynes and South Midlands plan'. The area called 'Stanton Cross' will increase the size of the town by 30%.[5]

References

1. "Northamptonshire County Council: statement". Retrieved 13 June 2018.
2. "Northamptonshire: Unitary authorities plan approved". BBC News. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
3. "AT LAST! Northamptonshire's new unitary councils are made law by parliament". Northampton Chronicle. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
4. "Wellingborough Town Council information sessions". Borough Council of Wellingborough. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
5. Wellingborough East