The One West Northamptonshire plan is our vision for how organisations can work together over the next 5 years to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Read our One West Northamptonshire Plan in full below.
West Northamptonshire is a new Council district created through local government reform, bringing 3 lower tier councils and the local County Council services together.
As well as being the fifth biggest unitary in the UK and the largest of the South Midlands authorities, the area benefits from a rich and diverse geography, economy and culture.
Whilst the creation of a new authority created some challenges in establishing a new identity and moving away from a county footprint which some partners still use today, the process also presented fresh opportunities for public and private services across our communities.
Furthermore, it provides us with a chance to work with all our partners to create a new authentic vision for our place, that builds on our unique position in the heart of England, our close proximity to major cities, airports, national infrastructure and our incredible countryside.
At its creation in April 2021, West Northamptonshire Council set out a vision agreed with its stakeholders, Councillors and residents ‘to make West Northamptonshire a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. Since then, we have worked hard with our partners to create the key strategies and plans that move us towards achieving this.
Work to date has focused on key pillars of our overall vision, for example our new business prospectus, town regeneration plans, new Local Plan, strategies for housing, tourism and addressing poverty, with further work now being undertaken on our local transport plan and economic strategy.
We have also created a single “Live your Best Life” health and wellbeing strategy for our county with common outcomes and shared plans across health and council services and our voluntary sector to ensure we have a focus on the health outcomes for our residents. All these strategies and plans have been developed through co-design and together create the foundations for meeting our ambition.
Over our first years we have started to build a reputation for innovation, building strong partnerships, and attracting new investment, and we now have a track record for delivery and creating the environment to do business.
Now is the time to take this to the next stage, with a single vision for our area that encompasses these plans and articulates the kind of place we all would like West Northamptonshire to be. This One West Northamptonshire Plan starts to fulfil that need, creating a roadmap, shared with our partners to achieve our ambitions by 2030.
Working as one to achieve our ambitions
Everyone in our district has an important part to play in addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities as we work together to create One West Northamptonshire for the benefit of everyone.
Successful place plans are fully owned and adopted by strategic partners, stakeholders and businesses across the area and are not seen as solely the Council’s responsibility. Through an extensive engagement programme, we have listened to our residents, businesses, voluntary and community sector (VCSE) partners, town and parish Councils and wider stakeholders about what this plan must contain.
Crucially we have heard about how you think we can achieve the suggested outcomes. We were pleased that 80% of respondents agreed with our direction and priorities but we also consistently heard that stakeholders want to see detailed, measurable, and actionable steps to achieve our vision, and
transparency in what we do.
This will be vital for our future success. On the adoption of this plan, the next step will be to set out a clear delivery plan with milestones, deadlines and commitments that can be monitored, so everyone can see our progress against our priorities.
We need to use our collective resources to deliver better place and resident outcomes and drive successful results with positive economic, infrastructure and wellbeing impacts. We know all partners have both the desire and drive to work more closely together in achieving these ambitions for our area.
We welcome the feedback from our residents and their desire for involvement in shaping policies and decisions that affect them. Likewise, we were delighted to receive input from our VCSE partners and Town and Parish Councils who are keen to work together in the delivery and design of our plans.
We believe our success now and, in the future, will come from our collective efforts and collaboration to make West Northamptonshire a great place.
The ONE West Northamptonshire Plan is our overall vision for the future, harnessing the opportunities for growth, creating a distinctive and thriving economy, therefore the chance to improve prosperity for everyone who calls West Northants home.
The Plan captures the things we think will make the biggest difference to improving people’s lives across all West Northants and many of the big challenges we face. Often the best opportunities will relate
to both.
The feedback from stakeholders was also very clear on this, we need inclusive growth that benefits everyone, not just a select few. Reducing inequalities and ensuring better access to services and opportunities are essential for fairness. Economic growth should be aligned with creating social value, and improving overall wellbeing.
This is mirrored in the Councils new Economic Strategy which has been developed in parallel with this plan and includes an objective “that the benefits of economic growth are felt by all members of
the community”.
This plan represents the Councils commitment to work with the residents of West Northants and all partner organisations, public, private and voluntary sectors, and to use our combined resources wisely to protect the environment, meet residents’ needs for homes and jobs and ensure that everyone can live well.
All places are not the same, they have local characteristics, different needs, challenges and inequalities and our Town and Parish Councils and VCSE partners have been clear that our plans need to reflect and
respect these differences, as well as help close any gaps in opportunities their residents face.
This plan and the delivery plan that follows will need to take account of how partner organisations and local communities in every part of our area, in our key rural towns of Daventry, Brackley and Towcester and surrounding villages as well as our urban centre in Northampton; can work with us towards making West Northamptonshire the best place in the UK.
Aligning our Ambitions
Having already established key plans and strategies in many areas, it is important that they all pull in the same direction, work towards the same aims and deliver against common objectives. The One West Northants Plan creates that linkage.
We have made sure this plan is connected and aligned to regional and national policy as part of an overall hierarchy focused on the same goals. This is important as it will ensure we maximise the investment and funding we get, its used effectively and efficiently across partners and it delivers benefits for both people and place.
Thriving place - One Future: Growing,creating and delivering a thriving future for West Northamptonshire
With:
- a thriving economy
- a great environment to live in
- good connectivity
- a skilled workforce
- more and better quality homes
Thriving People - One Heart: at the heart of West Northants is its people and the communities in which they live
Where:
- you can age well
- residents feel safe
- it is a great place to raise a family
- children get the best start
Efficient and Enabling Council
- Easy to do business with
- No waste of public money
- Best use of assets
- Modern and efficient process
- Evidence and intelligence-based decisions
Our Plan has key underlying principles for how we work and what we do. While the principles are high level, they are important tests for our future plans and to ensure we consistently pursue these objectives, which have been refined further to reflect feedback received.
Inclusive Growth
We will create the environment to deliver greater opportunity and prosperity for all. A thriving local economy and having a strong regional and national voice will help make West Northants a highly investable place. For everyone to benefit from growth, it may require investment in communities, reducing access inequality, and fostering collaboration and innovation in all their forms.
Our Economic and Local plans recognise there are substantial variations in local areas within West Northamptonshire and our rural areas have specific challenges that we will need to address, including: transport connectivity, the right infrastructure and the right housing or business facilities in the right place.
Collaboration
Success in the delivery of our objectives will require collaboration. Having produced plans in partnership with residents, local communities, partners and businesses we will build on our commitment to work with them to deliver our priorities and outcomes. We will encourage and support vibrant networks of small social enterprises; community groups and charities local investment that help our towns and villages thrive.
Sustainable Environment
We will seek to prioritise environmental sustainability in our plans. We recognise the Council has a stewardship role in the responsible use of natural resources and will seek to reduce negative impacts and contributors to climate change while balancing the need to drive prosperity for our residents.
Prevention
We support resilience in our communities that helps promote wellbeing and independence. Families in crisis, isolation, anti-social behaviour, crime and poverty in all forms makes it more likely that council partners will need to make costly and sometime intrusive interventions.
We will work with our public sector partners and voluntary and community groups to create resilience and support more people of all ages to stay well and independent. For our children and families, we will extend an expand our Family Help offer so we can support more families in times of need and ensure all our young people get the best start in life.
Efficient and modern services
The Council will spend public money efficiently and deliver value for money. The Council will embrace innovation and maximise the growing opportunities to use technology to make us cost effective. We will be transparent with what we spend and why, as well as use benchmarking to challenge ourselves and ensure we reflect best practice.
Our people
- 434,349 The total population (2023)
- 79.9 male life expectancy in years
- 83.5 female life expectancy in years
- 47.1% physically active children and young people meeting recommended level of activity
- 60.3% adults overweight
- 84.1% of pupils attend good or outstanding schools
- 45.2 The average attainment 8 score at Key Stage 4
- 62.1% of children and young people achieved a grade of 4 or better in English & Maths
- 662 Number of children in care
- 382 Number of children with a child protection plan
- 3,875 Number of children with an Education & Health Care Plan
- 2,102 Homelessness
- 1,560 Emergency hospital admissions due to falls in people age 65 and over
- 73.7%of people who use adult social care services and feel safe
Our Place
- £282,744 Average house price
- £950 - £1,100 Average rent for a three-bedroom property
- 77.6% People in employment (age 16-64)
- £34,118 The median average annual gross pay of full-time workers
- 16,000 Number of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations
- 19,050 Number of businesses
- 55,700 Northampton population in most deprived areas
- 4th Rural South’s ranking as one of the least income-deprived areas in England (2019)
- 41.5% of waste recycled, reused or composted
- £0.5 billion of regeneration programmes underway
- £30 million levered by the VCSE sector for the local economy, through external grants and commissioned contracts
- 1,522 Miles of roads maintained
- 163,436 Museum visitors
- 1,674,532 Visitors to 17 libraries
- 166 Number of town and parish Councils
- £5.4 million in local authority funding discharged by the VCSE sector over the past year
- 2.1 million Visits to council-owned leisure centres
On the Horizon
The last ONS local area population projections suggested that the population of West Northamptonshire would increase by 8.8% between 2023 and 2043. Based upon the ONS 2023 mid-year estimated population of 434,349 we estimate that the local population will reach 450,500 by 2030 and 472,000 by 2043.
In the next decade - 21,730 new homes (Local Plan requirements over 10 years).
We want to support an enterprising and inclusive economy where local people are the primary beneficiaries of regeneration and growth. Driving local economic growth will help create good quality local employment, an increasingly skilled workforce and drive wider benefits to health and wellbeing as well as attracting greater infrastructure investment.
We have heard a clear desire and ambition to ensure new local business supports local employment with their locations, within local travel times avoiding the need to bring in staff from outside the area. The benefits of economic growth should be felt by all residents whether in our rural or urban communities.
We recognise this will require robust infrastructure, including: roads, communications, power, healthcare, and education, to support economic growth and quality of life. Without these, the plan will not deliver its intended benefits. We have made sure that our key enabling plans will address these needs.
Our Key Enabling Plans
West Northants Local Plan
This is a statutory document that sets out the vision for future development in the West Northants. Local Plans are used to help decide on planning applications and other planning related decisions. In effect, they are the local guide to what can be built where, shaping infrastructure investments and determining the future pattern of development in our areas.
West Northants Economic Strategy
Using our evidence based on research into skills, businesses, connectivity, housing and planning as well as considering national and regional policy to inform our strategy. The strategy will set out the activities that we will undertake to create more and better jobs, expand business growth, attract investment and support emerging technology businesses and start ups.
West Northants Health and Wellbeing Strategy
This sets out how we intend to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in West Northamptonshire; and how we will do this by engaging and enabling our local communities through a ‘place’ based approach that reflects local and differing needs.
West Northants Local Transport Plan
Local Transport Plans (LTPs) are statutory documents which sets the strategy for the management, maintenance, development and improvement of all our transport network and modes of transport.
West Northamptonshire has many strengths to build on; we are uniquely placed for logistics and central for distribution, we attract high level jobs and talent, as seen in our advanced engineering sector with two F1 motorsports teams and globally known companies.
We offer great access to education and skills training working in partnership with our university, colleges and university technical college. We need a workforce with the right skills to match emerging ambitions and one which provides the skills that our businesses of today and tomorrow need.
We will be working in partnership with education partners to ensure we develop the skills we need to support our sustainable growth, good quality construction in our area and provide entrepreneurial support for start-up businesses and technology innovation.
We want to be an enterprising and productive area, capturing a bigger share of high value knowledge sector jobs while supporting a resilient foundational economy. This will help us attract and retain high-value businesses and investment and drive-up living standards and opportunities for all.
We already have one of the highest levels of business start-ups in the country, coming from the former shoe industry culture this spirit of independence is a real strength to our economy and one we help and support through incubation to move on and grow.
Our Regional Approach
As the host and a member of the South Midlands Authorities, we are well placed to help drive and benefit from a regional skills approach and potentially seeking devolved employment and skills funding.
Independent analysis shows that pooling budgets and working collaboratively has the potential to increase the number of people moving into work and improving their skills, helping both people and place prosperity.
We are excited to sit at the heart of the Oxford-Cambridge arc which is a priority area for the government to drive life sciences and technology and we are well placed to support that ambition to benefit local people.
Our West Northants Economic strategy provides the road map and delivery plan to achieve these aims. The analysis and evidence gathering for that strategy reinforces the outcomes we want to pursue and the activities we need to progress to achieve them.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| Our successful economy and growth benefit all residents and helps to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged young people | We will work with local businesses to create more apprenticeships. We will work with local businesses to support the growth in employment of people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, including children and young care experienced people. We will work with colleges to develop more vocational and apprentice-based learning for the skills we need and, in the sectors, where there are a growing number of jobs. Working with Health partners we will progress the delivery of the DWP funded Get Britain Working plans for West Northants residents supporting more people with health conditions return to work. |
| Understand our skills gap to meet business need now and for our future | As part of our West Northants Economic strategy, we will complete the Economic evidence base and research and set out the specific skills and jobs will require for improved growth and prosperity and current gaps to be addressed. |
| Improved local skill levels and capabilities leading to more good quality and better paid jobs | Our skills and employment hub will provide dedicated employment support service providing quality advice and training. We will complete our skills strategy and delivery plan working with employers about local labour markets and further and higher education on the future skills needed. We will align our plans with the regional Local Skills Improvement Plan and support local delivery of the Local Skills Improvement Fund. |
| West Northamptonshire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen above £15 billion | Daventry Town Centre– the spatial plan will help progress development opportunities and public realm improvements within the Town Centre acting as a catalyst for economic growth and improved quality of life for residents. Brackley– the spatial plan will help Brackley to become a thriving rural service centre town, but providing new homes, supporting economic investment in employment areas and supporting new employment regeneration opportunities in the Brackley business district. Towcester – the spatial strategy will support the town development as a thriving rural service centre that supports its new homes with appropriate infrastructure, provides new jobs and enhanced viability and vitality in town centre. Northampton – the spatial plan will support its role as the principal Urban Area through growth and regeneration, creating strong, sustainable, cohesive and inclusive mixed-use communities, regeneration schemes, making the most effective use of previously developed land, and enabling the maximum number of people to access employment, services and facilities locally. |
| West Northants residents benefit from the devolution of government infrastructure and growth funds to support growth and prosperity | We will secure the best possible devolution deal for our area and with it the investment funds to improve transport and infrastructure in order to grow our economy and connect people, jobs and regions. |
We have a strong partnership with education and training providers which means residents of all ages can develop and learn, increasing their potential earnings. We have helped raise aspirations locally, improving skills and qualifications levels | We will create an All-Age Skills Strategy in2025/26 including:
|
| We have helped reduce economic inactivity among West Northants residents and the barriers to employment and education | Working with our health partners and local employment services we will deliver 500 new starts via the “get West Northants working” programme utilising the DWP funding devolved to West Northants. We will progress our Local Transport plans to provide improved multi modal connectivity between our market towns and give more residents the ability to access jobs, education and support. |
| West Northamptonshire has become a popular destination for visitors | We will continue to exploit and promote our rich heritage and culture with increased visitor numbers. We will continue to promote our reputation for sports excellence and events boosting the local economy and overnights stays. |
Good infrastructure helps people connect to each other and local services. We will develop effective options for multi-modal transport infrastructure and digital infrastructure that supports employment, inclusive economic growth and reduced rural isolation.
A new local transport plan for West Northamptonshire has set a direction for how we create connectivity and support mobility in a way that drives up prosperity, reduces inequalities and overcomes some of the barriers created by our urban/rural split.
We recognise that many of our southern towns and rural villages are great places to live but are often not connected to the services and opportunities residents would like. In resident feedback we have heard clearly that there is a need for improved public transport, particularly in rural areas.
Stakeholders highlighted the requirement for more buses or minibus services, safer cycling routes, and innovative solutions like versatile buses and community transport.
The new Transport plans has three clear priorities that support this: Connecting People Better, Enabling Prosperity and Shaping Healthier Places and the policies below have been designed to meet these needs.
Connectivity is Key
We also heard from key communities like horse riders and the West Northants Local access forum (WNLAF) about the need to consider the wider use of our highways and by-ways for all uses, and that planning policies and decisions should protect and enhance public rights of way and access where possible, including taking opportunities to provide better facilities for users.
Our stakeholders also fedback that accessibility and connectivity also requires robust infrastructure including roads, communications, healthcare, and education to support economic growth and quality of life.
As well as digital and power connectivity, these areas form the backbone of our plans to ensure we have the right components for success. We continue the rollout of fibre broadband and expanding the coverage of rural areas as this is crucial for enabling remote work, education, and business opportunities.
Work has also commenced on power planning to ensure that we can support sustainable growth at pace and to open the opportunities for more businesses delivering innovation, technology and Artificial intelligence to call West Northants home.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| Our residents have travel choices to key destinations to learn, work or spend their money within West Northamptonshire, stimulating local socioeconomic growth | We will explore the expansion of car clubs, community transport and demand-responsive transport services to combat isolation, especially in our rural areas. We will deliver our Bus Service Improvement Plan. We will progress the plan for the Northampton Bus and Coach Station upgrade. |
| We have a resilient transport network and services across both urban and rural towns and villages | As part of our local Plan and Transport plan delivery, we will ensure that our major road network continues to evolve in coping with the demands of our population and business. Travel infrastructure will be a priority for any devolution plans and investment. We will progress solutions to address current issues regarding the Northampton Northern Orbital and Farthinghoe traffic mitigation. |
| We provide safe alternative routes that support active travel reducing environmental impacts and helping improve health | Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) will be refreshed. We will publish a pipeline of high-quality active travel schemes, working closely with Active Travel England to secure funding. |
| We have increased investment in low carbon and electric modes of transport will help improve air quality and enhance local environments | We will continue with the Implementation of EV charging, ensuring new developments provide more home connections. We will continue plans to support de-carbonisation of the transport network with the introduction of Electric buses in Northampton where we have the greatest air quality challenges. |
| We have expanded technology and innovation connections to help people and businesses connect physically and digitally | We will rollout fibre connections to more rural homes. We will expand the 5G network. |
West Northamptonshire has many beautiful villages, thriving market towns of Towcester, Brackley and Daventry and an increasingly vibrant town centre in Northampton (the biggest market town in England) which has a pipeline of exciting regeneration projects underway through half a billion pounds of investment.
All our towns have exciting new masterplans and spatial strategies that seek to increase their footfall and prosperity supported by good infrastructure and responsible residential expansions.
We will work with our Town and Parish Councils to make sure that these plans support the improvement of local facilities, developments deliver social value and turn areas that previous suffered from empty shops, litter and poor public realms into vibrant places.
We support the feedback that local voices must be part of shaping local transformation. Residents and visitors of West Northamptonshire benefit from exploring this unique balance of urban and rural gems and numerous attractions across the region.
We have a diverse landscape featuring Northampton, with a network of other smaller historical market towns, unique villages, country houses, churches and spires and open field landscapes. It’s a great place to bring up a family, work and retire in, or have a business.
Supporting Growing Communities
Residents have told us how important access to green space is and as a council we set out a clear parks strategy that will ensure these are well used, well maintained and enhance local biodiversity.
Within our Local Plan we have also recognised the importance as a growing area to secure good recreational space, community facilities, allotments and supporting health and education infrastructure as part of planning and to support growing local communities and populations.
We have listened to the resident and business feedback on the importance of the public realm and how litter, fly tipping and poorly maintained commercial plots can degrade the look and vibrancy of a local area. We will be using our powers to convert empty properties and get businesses in and working on targeted campaigns to tackle littering and fly tipping.
Our new waste contract will also support us with better services, 7 day access to recycling centres and increased recycling rates. We will also use our full enforcement powers to prosecute those who dump waste increasing monitoring of hot spots. We know that the biggest deterrent to litterers and fly-tippers can be community pride and vigilance, and we will be looking to promote and enhance our collective efforts to keep West Northants clean.
We are fast building a global reputation for strengths in sporting excellence, heritage and culture. Our visitor economy is robust and growing, and we are proud to host some of Britain’s best stately homes including Althorp, Sulgrave Manor, Canons Ashby and Kelmarsh Manor and we are home to some of the country’s key historical events, from the Battle of Naseby to the invention of radar.
We are one of a few areas that host professional rugby, cricket and football clubs and are noted for the development of many track and field athletes at Moulton College along with Paralympic and World Champion swimmers.
This sits alongside modern motorsport excellence hosting both the British F1 and GP Moto events at our Silverstone Circuit and both Aston Martin and Mercedes formula 1 teams’ headquarters.
More recently, we hosted the Tour of Britain international cycling event and have been selected as a host city for the Women’s Rugby World Cup and hosted England Women Cricket Internationals, with other major international sporting events being lined up for 2027.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| More visitors come to West Northants, stay here and spend their money locally, boosting our GVA (gross value added) | We will seek funding from Visit England to showcase Northamptonshire as a destination to visit. We will work with businesses within our Local Visitor Economy Partnership grow our reputation as a great place to visit. We will convert more day visitors into overnight stays, significantly boosting the economy and the sustainability of businesses in our towns and more importantly our villages. |
| Northampton has become a town of aspiration and ambition with a growing population and business base with investment reaching £1bn since the Councils start in 2021 | Northampton Market Square will become a thriving centre of business and social activity with all units in and around the square are occupied by businesses. Works on our major regeneration projects will commence in Abington street, Greyfriars and 3 Waterside bringing new living and working space and raising the investment and opportunity profile of Northampton. |
| Daventry Town Centre | Daventry Town Centre has had investment in public realm improvements, more shops have open and footfall has increased. |
| Brackley Town Centre | Brackley is successfully growing with new homes and spaces, a new family hub and investment has been made in employment areas that has driven regeneration in the Brackley business district. |
| Towcester Town Centre | Towcester is a thriving rural service centre with more shops, places to eat and good employment sites that support the growing population and viability of the town centre. |
| Our open spaces are accessible and well used by residents | Improvements have been made in our most used parks that support health and wellbeing, biodiversity, including protection of critical species. |
| We support our young people with facilities that encourage positive activity and reduce anti-social behaviour | The Council has published a youth strategy. There are youth facilities in all our market towns. The first youth zone will be open in Northampton to help reduce youth crime and increase engagement. |
| Our Town and Parish Council are supported to keep our towns and villages vibrant, resilient and welcoming | We have devolved budgets to Town and Parish Councils for elements of local maintenance. We have supported local resilience teams who can respond to local floods and issues. We have provided family hubs in all our market towns and a network of smaller provisions that support families and their children access help and support to get the best start. |
Good quality housing in the right place is central to having thriving residents and communities. When people feel safe and secure in their homes, they are more likely to live independent, healthy and fulfilling lives. Quality, sustainable housing contributes to keeping our neighbourhoods attractive and vibrant.
Increasing our housing supply with high quality and affordable homes and the right supporting infrastructure is vital to serve our growing population. Stakeholders have been clear that they want the Council to ensure developers are held to account for the quality and safety of homes, as well as their supporting infrastructure, for example to prevent flooding.
Our Town and Parish Councils have highlighted the importance of community and challenges with management companies that we will address. We know if we want to grow our economy and meet our populations needs, we will need to create more good quality homes.
We will adopt a “homes for everyone approach”, with our house building programme reflecting the requirement for more affordable housing that is accessible to people on average incomes, young professional homes and homes that support our older population to stay well in their communities.
Our Local plan is clear that there is need for more quality housing but also that it is energy-efficient, well-connected to jobs and services, and built in suitable locations.
Our projections and identified housing development areas have also been shared with health partners to inform their planning for health facilities and our education service has a roadmap for where we will require more or less places or new schools. We heard in our resident feedback how important these things were.
Tackling Homelessness
We also need a council to tackle the issues of homelessness which led to costly interventions and displaced families. The need to build affordable housing and to cater for some of the specific needs of our homeless population, is greater than ever. This is both because of the excess of demand over supply but also the changes in the private sector which have resulted in more no fault evictions.
We need to address too generational housing considering the different needs of young care leavers and our older population and how we support them to stay independent.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| Reduced homelessness and reduced use of temporary accommodation and more people accessing and retaining a suitable secure home | We have opened new facilities for the short-term support of homeless people or those sleeping rough and supported by “move on” teams to get them into settled accommodation. We will have supported accommodation in place with wrap around drug, alcohol and wellbeing services for our single vulnerable homeless adults. We will use predictive analytics to reduce the numbers of people presenting as homeless and help them stay in settled accommodation. |
| Deliver at least 500 more affordable homes a year and extending the target as resources and tools become available | We will work with partners including Homes England through the new Housing Need and Delivery Board to develop housing solutions based on need. We will work with housebuilders and developers through our Housing Delivery Board to facilitate and accelerate the supply of new homes. We will push locally and nationally to ensure all empty properties within West Northamptonshire are made available for occupation and developers do not land bank sites that have planning permission for new homes. |
| We build homes with the lowest viable carbon footprint | Our Local plan and national policies for social housing will secure more energy efficient homes. We will secure national funds for home improvements to improve energy efficiency. |
| Our social and private rented hosing meets the decent homes standard | We will complete our NPH improvement plan to ensure our housing stock meets the Decent Homes Standard. We will refresh our additional Houses in Multiple Occupation licensing regime to hold landlords accountable for maintaining their property. We will continue with our effective housing enforcement action anywhere standards are not met. |
| A planning system that supports swift, evidence-based decisions and encourages the development of high quality and affordable homes | Our Local plan sets out the standard, type, locations and supporting infrastructure required for house development. |
| Safe, secure and appropriate accommodation for children in care, care leavers and adults who need additional support | The Council has completed its projects for the delivery of more children’s homes and supported accommodation for those in care and increases the stock of care leaver training flats. The Council will prioritise care leavers in its allocation of social housing and supports them to sustain their tenancies. |
| Planned housing growth is supported by the required infrastructure for travel, health, education and leisure facilities | We will update our evidence-based Local Plan which reflects the new ambitions for housing growth, providing an effective policy framework for the sustainable growth. |
We want West Northants to be known as a Child Friendly Place – a great place to grow up and raise a family, a place where children have the best start in life supported by good schools, strong communities, things to do and lots of green space. Our residents and partners have recognised that this will require child-friendly communities that listen, invest, and care.
Through our local plan and the ongoing work at place level as part of the health and wellbeing strategy we will continue to work in local area partnerships with the VCSE, community groups, health and families to provide environments where there are things to do for all ages of children, there is access to family hubs providing support networks, health services and specialist support so families don’t struggle.
We will also continue our key work with schools and as part of our SEND improvement plan to create thriving, inclusive learning environments for our children. We want to have a positive impact on improving outcomes for all children, while recognising the need for outcomes to improve faster for children who are vulnerable or need extra support or intervention to achieve their best.
We will do more to reduce child exclusion, so our children do not fall out of education or fall behind, as we know that children excluded from education are more likely to enter the youth criminal system and less likely to go on to further education, secure housing and good jobs.
We know that we have a large number of children in our SEND system and seeking Educational, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and this has increased by 20% each year, creating strains on services and families.
We have work to do to improve our wait times for our assessments and health diagnosis and as we know that while families wait they are more likely to escalate into crisis with children missing vital days at school and ongoing emotional and wellbeing issues.
Our SEND partnership and Improvement Board is focused on addressing these needs in a far more coordinated way. Over the next five years we will be doing more to develop inclusion units in mainstream school, support our schools with specialist staff, link in our family hub services and offer a greater array of family help services earlier so families and schools don’t feel that an escalation to an EHCP is the only way to get the help needed.
Children in Care
We also currently have a large number of children in care in comparison to other areas, although this has steadily come down. Our Children’s Trust has made significant improvements to keeping more children safe from harm and improving the way we work together to try and keep families together. All partners have a shared responsibility to identify and meet the needs of all children and families, through effective support across the partnership, to enable children and young adults to thrive and be empowered to reach their full potential.
Over the course of this Plan we will continue to work together to reduce the number of children coming into care and do more to ensure that our early help services and teams are organised around the family, support them to live together well, or stay connected if we have to intervene.
It is also clear from resident and VCSE feedback that we need to consider our Youth Offer and there is a shared concern about the lack of early help and youth services.. There were calls for support for parents including safe, family-friendly public spaces, local groups and hubs for hometutored children, as well as out-of-school youth services and safe spaces for socialising and mentorship.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
In 2024 the Government launched the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill with a suite of changes across schools, social care and crucially family support all aimed at improving children’s outcomes through more preventative thinking and partnership working.
Family help involves merging targeted early help and child in need services into multidisciplinary teams, designed to provide families in need with better, less stigmatising support, with a view to keeping families together.
Through investment in our children’s trust, family hubs and family information services and better integrated working with health and the VCSE we hope to reduce the number of children coming into care or families needing interventions, reduce the wait times for help and support more families stay together and thrive.
Child-friendly West Northants
Our work on our planned network of family hubs will include youth services and space provision but we are also exploring the potential for youth zones in areas of high need.
Our 2023 Youth Peer Review confirmed that West Northants leaders understand that investment at an early point in the life of a young person will save money across the system including for health services, the Council, Social Care, Police, the justice system and schools, to say nothing of the impact upon the life chances of the young people and their communities.
A Child-friendly West Northants will look to promote and advance joint working to achieve these outcomes.
We know that our work with schools, colleges and higher education is also vital to the success of young people and our area. In 2024 we held our first schools conference attended by schools across the area, health partners and SEND teams and together we set a clear path on how we can improve support, inclusion and educational outcomes.
With our colleges and university, the work we are doing on our skills strategy, within our careers hub and as part of our anchor institution network is helping to create a clear understanding of the skills we need, the training and educational paths and what jobs we will need in the future.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| Children and young people are healthy, safe and part of inclusive communities | Our networks of family hubs and integrated health and care partnerships and services will help improve children’s health and provide access to additional support where needed. We will encourage the inclusion of play areas in housing developments and provide easy access to groups, activities and support services so families can engage in active healthy lives. |
| Provide early coordinated help to families facing challenges and facilitating the right support and right services so that we prevent escalating needs or a crisis | Our new Children’s 0-19 Community Health service has commenced and is providing more direct support to families and in schools. Our multi-agency and multi-channel early help offer for families and children will reduce the numbers of families escalating into crisis or statutory interventions. |
| Have access to good quality specialist education provision for our SEND children built on inclusive mainstream school environments and effective alternative provision | Our SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy and SEND Priority Action Plan is progressing well and we have come out of DFE intervention. We will reduce waits for assessments and diagnosis and provide more timely support and improved alternative provision that will help reintegrate children back into their schools. We will deliver additional special educational needs and disability resource provision/units within existing schools and opened the new Tiffield specialist provision to support children with complex need. |
| Where support is needed, we work in an integrated way with partners to deliver the right help from the right person at the right time to families to help their children succeed | Our Family Help service has provided increased ‘early help’ and Family help support for families or children in crisis, helping build their resilience and reduce escalations or crisis. We will provide a family hub as single point of support in each of our Neighbourhoods with family forums that enable coordinated information, advice and help. We will put in place shared systems and data with health and partners so that we have a single holistic view of our children and work in a coordinated way. |
| Interventions in family and children’s lives are proportionate to the level of risk and need and we help children and families stay and thrive together where it is safe to do so | We will create a triage service for families and children reducing the demand on our multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) front door and ensuring no early opportunity to help is missed. We will develop a new West Northants Family help offer through face-to-face services, online support and local community networks. Children’s services will be recognised as Good by Ofsted. |
| A vibrant youth offer that engages young people in positive activities and communities reducing anti-social behaviour and risk of youth crime | We will develop a clear and shared partnership vision of what youth work will look like across the county and centrality of young people to our communities, ensuring full visibility of available services and that we maximise the opportunities to integrate services. |
| Strong partnership with schools | We will improve and strengthen our relationship with our schools and headteachers to ensure we are working collaboratively to drive up attainment and meet the future needs of our population. |
A healthy and happy West Northants: we want people to live the best lives they can - happy, healthy and independently.
As the fourth largest unitary council area in the country with a mixture of urban and rural areas, we have diverse demographics around our key towns and more remote areas. There are also significant differences between average incomes and ages depending on geography.
Regardless of this, our shared partnership ambition is for residents to ‘live their best life’ in all aspects: health and wellbeing, education, housing and employment, and whoever they are and wherever they live in Northamptonshire.
A strong and supportive West Northants: Confident, supportive and empowered communities working together to make a difference. We are lucky to have a huge network of 2,000 VCSE organisations, big and small, working across our communities and villages helping to reduce isolation, provide activities and help people stay in their homes, manage conditions, and recover independence.
It is vital that we work collectively to support people and their carers to stay active and well during their working age years taking a role in promoting the positive influence of wider determinants of wellbeing, jobs, housing, green space and connectivity.
We know the impact partnership working can have and the positive difference it can make for both communities and service delivery. We are working together on plans for more same day services that can help address residents concern’s around the rising demand for health and social care and access to GPs. Residents have raised concerns too about hospital pressures and how we reduce the continued demand and promote health and wellbeing.
While we have a lower-than-average percentage of over 65s, we have seen this group grow at twice the national average and by three times for over 75s. Our emergency NHS services have been under pressure for years and public expectation is to be able to access ‘on-the-day’ services creating over-reliance on access to urgent healthcare.
This has resulted in an exponential increase in demand at A&E and for social care. If we do nothing, we will need 164 more hospital beds in 5 years at a time when there is limited funding and long timescales to build. Our focus must therefore be on prevention and reducing demand so that people do not attend hospitals unnecessarily.
3 big shifts
The Government has launched its 10-year plan for the NHS and we welcome a focus on the “three big shifts” because we know that these systemic changes are better for people and their outcomes and will reduce the need for long term care.
They are:
- From acute to Community care
- From treatment to prevention
- From analogue to digital services
Shifting the balance to more holistic, proactive, planned support will rebalance and reduce the current reliance on unplanned care ensuring emergency services are able to prioritise and meet the needs of those who are at greatest immediate risk.
To slow this trajectory, we need to support our children and adults to live healthy and active lives. Our green spaces and sport and leisure partners provide a real opportunity to support an increase in healthy life expectancy for local people, alongside work on reducing local health inequalities.
For our elderly population, we will need to continue to encourage and support empowered self-care and active prevention where possible, working in partnership with health and the voluntary sector to avoid health crises and reduce hospital admissions. We will also need to manage long-term conditions at home through technology and social prescribing solutions.
Where the elderly do face a crisis, we will work with partners to respond in the community and, through joint services and facilities, we will focus on helping them recover their independence. This is better for our residents’ outcomes and reduces the cost and operational pressures on health and care.
Our strength-based approach is delivered across our LAPs with the intent on enabling people to remain independent and live their best lives. Integration with health, housing and voluntary sector partners will increase our ability to support people in a person-centred way and make best use of local resources.
We are also working with partners to progress the national directive around moving to Neighbourhood Health and Care services. We have seen already how our initiatives like Age Well, and working with the VCSE and carers can turn the tide of hospital admissions and help more people to stay well in their community and we plan to do more of this kind of prevention and early intervention work.
Our Age well programme has also seen the successful expansion of our Telecare and “virtual wards” remote healthcare management and we want to build on this as the evidence is clear that people regain their independence and wellbeing faster in their own homes and communities.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| Our residents maintain healthy, active lives facilitated by access to work, homes, transport, leisure and green space | We will work at a local level to address health inequalities through joined up services with partners that ensure people stay active and connected through community groups, befriending services and access to community facilities and clubs. Our Age Well programme will continue providing holistic support to maximise self-care and wellbeing for people living with frailty. |
| Adults have access to learning opportunities which support them with work and life skills | We will offer a wide range of adults learning classes across our area and supplemented but our thriving VCSE groups. |
| We have shifted care from acute hospitals to communities- The elderly and younger adults with care and support needs are enabled to stay well and independent in their community | We will continue to develop our shared intermediate care to avoid people going to hospital or support their discharge and recover their health and independence. |
| We have shifted our focus from treatment to prevention | We will maintain and grow our age well programme, look to provide targeted funded local interventions that address local health needs and gaps. We will increase the community crisis response teams. We will provide “step up” services using our intermediate care services that stop people needing a hospital admission. |
| We are delivering joined up care in neighbourhoods | We will provide more joined up health and care through shared care records and the introduction of our health and care neighbourhood teams. |
| Residents have better access to GPs and dentists | We will see an increase in the number of NHS dentist appointments. We will set up the first pilot in West Northants for same day primary care ensuring more people get on the day treatment and support, avoiding the need to attend A&E and freeing up GP time to focus on patients with long term conditions. |
| We are using technology appropriately to support people and residents are not digitally excluded | Our Telecare and telehealth offers will help more people to stay independent home or recovery at home after a hospital stay. We will provide face to face “check-in services” where needed. |
West Northamptonshire Council strives to be a top performing Council delivering good quality services while being efficient and effective with taxpayers’ money. Strong governance makes us a robust organisation and there is a laser focus on opportunities to innovate and improve.
We will continue to operate as an efficient organisation while working ambitiously with our partners to shape our place and provide the opportunity for our residents and businesses to thrive. As stakeholders requested, this commitment will be underpinned by a clear performance framework that measures us against the best performing councils and benchmarks will be used to test our efficiency.
Our challenges, opportunities and decisions will be transparently shared with the public and partners. We understand the need to continually listen to our residents, businesses and communities and will undertake surveys to test how our customers feel and where we can improve.
We foster co-design principles working with the public, client groups, town and parish councils and partners to make sure we jointly own the solutions we create to needs and challenges.
Expanding Technology
We are committed as a council to diversity and promoting the needs of all members of the local community, ensuring equal access to council services and that changes reflect the needs of people with protected characteristics. This is mirrored within the Council and commitments to staff.
We want our workforce to mirror our communities and to foster talent and innovation while demonstrating that we are a cost effective organisation. We will continue to expand our use of technology and AI where it makes sense in terms of what our customers want to do or how they want to transact and where it improves our efficiency.
We will continue to offer face to face services and more intensive support where needed and where doing so can help residents or businesses with any challenges they face.
| Outcome by 2030 | How we will do this |
|---|---|
| We provide good quality accessible services that meet people’s needs and preferences for delivery | We will fully implement our resident access strategy with faster resolution times through technology where possible and allowing those that need it to access more intense personal support. |
| We are an intelligence and data-led organisation and use information to help make the best decisions for residents and value for money | We will use data and analytics platforms to inform decisions, interventions and reduce me our costs and demands. |
| Our workforce is motivated, flexible, collaborative and efficient | Staff retention and turnover will benchmark well against sector comparators. |
| We are transparent in our decision-making | We will publish clear reports that explain why decisions are made, how they deliver value for money and how they help support the one West Northants Plan outcomes. |
| We are financially sound and manage our budgets robustly | The council will deliver against is savings plans and deliver a balanced budget at year end. |
| We use our assets effectively and to achieve value for money | We will publish a transparent asset strategy and community assets register and process to assign them to community groups. We will make best value decisions in relation to assets disposals, refurbishments or developments are supported by clear business cases and return on investment. |
This Plan is a living document that will need to be regularly reviewed and adapted based on emerging challenges and opportunities for all partners.
The Plan has been finalised to reflect the combined priorities and ambitions of partners, and the next stage will be the development of a Shared Delivery Plan, setting out the key objectives and timescales for all organisations to work to in delivering upon the priorities and achieving outcomes over the next 5 years.