West Northamptonshire

This article is about the district. For the council, see West Northamptonshire Council.

West Northamptonshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, and was created in 2021. It contains the county town of Northampton, as well as the towns of Daventry, Brackley and Towcester, and the large villages of Brixworth and Long Buckby; the rest of the area is predominantly agricultural villages though it has many lakes and small woodlands.

West Northamptonshire
Unitary authority area
Northampton, Daventry, Brackley and Towcester
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Ambition, Pride, Unity, Prosperity
West Northamptonshire shown within Northamptonshire
Coordinates: 52.237°N 0.895°W / 52.237; -0.895
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	East Midlands
Ceremonial county	Northamptonshire
Incorporated	1 April 2021
Administrative HQ	Northampton
Government [1]
• Type	Unitary authority with leader and cabinet
• Body	West Northamptonshire Council
• House of Commons	4 MPs Lucy Rigby (L) Stuart Andrew (C) Sarah Bool (C) Mike Reader (L)
Area [2]
• Total	530 sq mi (1,380 km2)
• Land	532 sq mi (1,377 km2)
• Water	1 sq mi (3 km2)
• Rank	16th
Population  (2022)[3]
• Total	429,013
• Rank	15th
• Density	810/sq mi (311/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
• Ethnic groups	List 85.9% White 5.3% Asian 4.9% Black 2.8% Mixed 1.1% other
Religion (2021) [4]
• Religion	List 49.5% Christianity 38.2% no religion 3.5% Islam 1.3% Hinduism 0.4% Sikhism 0.4% Buddhism 0.1% Judaism 0.6% other 6.1% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode area	NN
Dialling codes	01327 01604
ISO 3166 code	GB-WNH
GSS code	E06000062
ITL code	TLF24
GVA	2021 estimate[5]
• Total	£13.2 billion
• Per capita	£30,905
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate[5]
• Total	£14.7 billion
• Per capita	£34,385
Website	westnorthants.gov.uk

The West Coast Main Line and the M1 and M40 motorways pass through the district, and it includes the site of the Roman town of Bannaventa and the grade I listed Althorp House and its estate.

History

West Northamptonshire was formed on 1 April 2021^[6] through the merger of the three non-metropolitan districts of Daventry, Northampton, and South Northamptonshire. The new West Northamptonshire Council therefore absorbed the functions of those districts' councils, plus those of the abolished Northamptonshire County Council. These changes were implemented by creating a new non-metropolitan district and a non-metropolitan county covering the area, both called West Northamptonshire. There is no county council; instead the district council performs county-level functions, making it a unitary authority.^[7] West Northamptonshire remains part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty.^[8]

In March 2018, following financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers at Northamptonshire County Council, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and 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.^[9] These proposals were approved in April 2019. It meant that the districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire were merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire, whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire consists of the former Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough districts.^[10][11]

Governance

West Northamptonshire Council provides both county-level and district-level services. The whole area is also covered by civil parishes, which form a second tier of local government.^[12]

Demographics

Population

Population pyramid in 2020

The West Northamptonshire population was estimated to be around 406,733 people in 2020, in 2011, off of previous administrative boundaries, the population of the West Northamptonshire area was around 375,101 people, with it being 345,589 people in 2001.^[13]

Gender

In 2020, there was around an estimated 202,004 men and 204,729 women.^[13]

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group	1991[14]		2001[15]		2011[16]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
White: Total	301,940	96.1%	326,513	94.5%	336,933	89.8%
White: British	–	–	315,127	91.2%	314,924	84%
White: Irish	–	–	4,996		4,011
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller	–	–	–	–	214
White: Other	–	–	6,390		17,784
Asian or Asian British: Total	6,268	2%	7,224	2.1%	16,063	4.3%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	2,918		3,915		6,471
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	563		915		1,789
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	1,215		1,818		3,474
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	847		1,495		2,005
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	725		576		2,324
Black or Black British: Total	4,746	1.5%	5,078	1.5%	11,598	3.1%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	2,877		3,077		6,837
Black or Black British: African	513		1,465		3,298
Black or Black British: Other Black	1,356		536		1,463
Mixed or British Mixed: Total	–	–	4,412	1.3%	8,823	2.4%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	–	–	2,009		3,819
Mixed: White and Black African	–	–	353		1,241
Mixed: White and Asian	–	–	1,130		1,947
Mixed: Other Mixed	–	–	920		1,816
Other: Total	1,283	0.4%	867	0.3%	1,684	0.4%
Other: Arab	–	–	–	–	579
Other: Any other ethnic group	1,283	0.4%	867		1,105
Total	314,237	100%	345,589	100%	375,101	100%

Age structure

Age distribution of West Northamptonshire in 2020^[13]

0-9 years	10-19 years	20-29 years	30-39 years	40-49 years	50-59 years	60-69 years	70-79 years	80+ years
52,453	48,857	45,494	52,919	54,387	57,322	43,181	34,676	17,865

Media

In terms of television, West Northamptonshire is served by BBC East and ITV Anglia with television signals received from the Sandy Heath transmitter. ^[17] However, some southwestern parts of the area such as Brackley is served by BBC South and ITV Meridian broadcasting from the Oxford TV transmitter. ^[18]

Radio stations for the area are:

• BBC Local Radio
  • BBC Radio Northampton on 104.2 FM
  • BBC Radio Oxford (covering Brackley) on 95.2 FM

• Independent Local Radio
  • Heart East on 96.6 FM
  • Smooth East Midlands (formerly Connect FM) on 97.2 FM

• Community radio
  • NLive Radio on 106.9 FM
  • Inspiration FM on 107.8 FM

The area is served by these local newspapers: Northampton Chronicle & Echo, Daventry Express and Banbury Guardian which covers Brackley.

Settlements and parishes

For a county-wide list for Northamptonshire see List of places in Northamptonshire

West Northamptonshire is entirely covered by civil parishes, of which there are 166.^[19]

• Abthorpe, Adstone, Althorp, Arthingworth, Ashby St Ledgers, Ashton, Aston le Walls, Astrop, Aynho
• Badby, Barby, Blakesley, Blisworth, Boddington, Boughton, Brackley, Bradden, Brafield-on-the-Green, Braunston, Brington, Brixworth, Brockhall, Bugbrooke, Byfield
• Caldecote, Canons Ashby, Castle Ashby, Chacombe, Chapel Brampton, Charlton, Charwelton, Chipping Warden, Church Brampton, Church Stowe, Clay Coton Clipston, Cogenhoe, Cold Ashby, Cold Higham, Cosgrove, Coton, Cottesbrooke, Courteenhall, Creaton, Crick, Croughton, Culworth
• Daventry, Deanshanger, Denton, Dodford, Draughton
• East Farndon, East Haddon, Easton Neston, Edgcote, Elkington, Evenley, Everdon, Eydon
• Farthinghoe, Farthingstone, Flore, Fawsley
• Gayton, Grafton Regis, Grange Park, Great Brington, Great Oxendon, Greatworth, Greens Norton, Grimscote, Guilsborough
• Hackleton, Hanging Houghton, Hannington, Harlestone, Harpole, Hartwell, Haselbech, Hellidon, Helmdon, Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Holcot, Holdenby, Hollowell
• Kelmarsh, Kilsby, King's Sutton, Kislingbury
• Lamport, Lilbourne, Litchborough, Little Brington, Little Houghton, Long Buckby, Lower Catesby
• Maidford, Maidwell, Marston St. Lawrence, Marston Trussell, Middleton Cheney, Milton Malsor, Moreton Pinkney, Moulton
• Naseby, Nether Heyford, Newbottle, Newnham, Northampton, Norton
• Old, Old Stratford, Overthorpe, Overstone
• Passenham, Pattishall, Paulerspury, Pitsford, Potterspury, Preston Capes
• Quinton
• Radstone, Ravensthorpe, Roade, Rothersthorpe
• Scaldwell, Shutlanger, Sibbertoft, Silverstone, Slapton, Spratton, Stanford-on-Avon, Staverton, Stoke Bruerne, Sulby, Sulgrave, Syresham
• Teeton, Thenford, Thornby, Thorpe Mandeville, Tiffield, Towcester
• Upper Catesby, Upper Heyford, Upper Stowe
• Wappenham, Walgrave, Warkworth, Watford, Weedon Bec, Weedon Lois, Welford, Welton, West Haddon, Weston, Whilton, Whiston, Whitfield, Whittlebury, Wicken, Winwick, Woodend, Woodford Halse
• Yardley Gobion, Yardley Hastings, Yelvertoft

Locations

The district includes the site of the Roman fortified town of Bannaventa,^[20] and the grade I listed stately home Althorp House and its estate.^[21]

See also

• 2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England
• 2021 West Northamptonshire Council election
• North Northamptonshire, another district created in Northamptonshire in April 2021.
• West Northamptonshire Development Corporation