On 11th December 2025, North Northants Council resolved to have a “Community Governance Review” of the parishes and towns within North Northants.
This means that the size and boundaries of the parish wards, plus the boundaries and types of the parishes and towns, will be open to change.
The reasons given were:
- there are consequential matters arising from the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s review of electoral arrangements for North Northamptonshire Council that require consideration,
- there has been significant residential development in some areas since the last review leading to shifts in natural settlements,
- there have been changes in population in some areas which may have impacted levels of democratic representation,
- there are specific or local issues that have been identified within individual parishes
This is the first community governance review undertaken since the formation of North Northamptonshire Council in 2021.
Wellingborough and Rushden Town Councils will have “protected status”, which means that it will be difficult for unpopular changes to be forced upon them. (This is because they were both given new ward boundaries quite recently.)
The consultations are already under way, and suggestions and submissions can be made up until 20th February 2026.
In the Nene Herald area, there are several boundary changes that have already been suggested.
Ideally, there should be roughly the same number of voters per councillor in every ward for a Council. The Donne Close and Prospect Avenue wards in Rushden are very far from matching this principle.
In most Rushden wards, there are around 2000 voters per councillor. By contrast, the Prospect Avenue ward has 483 voters per councillor, and the Donne Close ward has just 141.
It is therefore likely that these two micro-wards will disappear as a result of the Review.