Open letter on committed funds to the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Date: 6 August 2024
Our Ref: JS/RG

Dear Rachel, 

Congratulations on your appointment to Chancellor of the Exchequer. We at North Northamptonshire look forward to working with you on local government priorities.

North Northamptonshire Council is a young council which was created following local government reform in 2021. We are grasping the opportunity to build a modern local authority and we have huge ambitions for our people and place. As one of the largest growth areas in the country, we are excited to continue to deliver the economic agenda at pace, and we embrace the opportunity to work in partnership with government and support the delivery of the government’s missions.

We are launching our “Big 50 Vision” which will make a tangible difference for future generations and ensure that they have the best possible opportunities and quality of life. Delivery of our vision for 2050 is facilitated by the Council but is owned and delivered by our communities and partners and many of the government’s missions align to our ambitions for North Northamptonshire. 

Whilst I am sure you have numerous high-profile activities to contend with, I thought it important to highlight the funding committed by the previous government for our area amounting to £339.502m. This will enable us to deliver key strategic projects and I want to seek assurance that the committed funding will be forthcoming for the benefit of our residents.

I hope the dialogue with government can continue over the coming weeks and months to ensure that together, we maintain the accelerated growth of the area.

Kettering Hospital Build 

Kettering Hospital is well advanced in its plans for the New Hospital. Following wide local public engagement with staff and patients, plans were developed for a phased build of the current site, replacing 70% of its oldest and most unsuitable clinical buildings. The Accident and Emergency department sees and treats over 400 patients each day in a space designed to treat just over 100. It was quoted by a national tsar as being the worst Accident and Emergency estate he had seen not just in the UK, but across Europe and India. 

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was found extensively in the Maternity and Women’s and Children’s building in late 2023 and has been independently assessed as being of critical risk. As a result, women and children have had to be placed in unsuitable temporary facilities with the cost of removing the RAAC and building permanent facilities dependant on the New Hospital Programme. 

The hospital is well advanced in its planning, having already submitted a Standard of Care and Outline Business Case as part of its development. It has been consistently recognised by previous Ministers and Secretaries of State as a low-risk scheme that can provide positive and visible progress in a short period as compared to larger more complex schemes: 

• We already have outline planning consent granted. 
• No public consultation or complex pricey land deals are required. 
• We can build in phases and uses for relatively small amounts of financial commitment in any given year – making it suitable for ‘slippage’ of other larger schemes. 
• With rapid decisions, we can move forward with building a hospital that can support the government to deliver a National Health Service that is fit for the future.

Despite submitting the Standard of Care and Outline Business Case in early 2021 and summer 2022 respectively, these have yet to be considered or approved by the New Hospital Programme. We are now without a clear route forward to resolving the RAAC problem.  

North Northamptonshire is an area of higher-than-average population growth with multiple new housing developments being completed. We need to ensure that we have the services and infrastructure for our local population both now and in the future. We believe that the new hospital is essential to support the continued high growth of our local area.

Cultural Fund 

North Northamptonshire Council was provisionally awarded £5 million of capital funding as part of the Spring Budget. This funding is to support local cultural projects. The funding for North Northamptonshire ensured that all Priority 1 areas in England, which were identified for investment by the previous Government, will have benefitted through one of the Levelling Up Fund rounds. This recognises that this area had not secured funding previously. 

An Investment Plan was submitted on 3 June 2024 following engagement with local stakeholders. The ambition is to use the funding to celebrate and promote culture locally, its creative expression through the arts, and its benefits across our area. The vision is of an area that welcomes residents and visitors to experience both our special cultural heritage along with contemporary creative innovation.  

Targeted investment and support will open-up greater access to culture, enhance wellbeing through participation in arts and deliver many more creative places and spaces. It will build on our cultural heritage and increasing cultural engagement, particularly amongst the younger generation.  The Investment Plan includes ten projects located in each of the parliamentary constituencies, led by a variety of local organisations including from the community and voluntary scheme, and a grant scheme. 

This funding is crucial to improve cultural facilities in the area. Any loss of funding would have a major impact on the delivery of the projects listed in the Investment Plan. In turn, this would impact on the new jobs, further investment, increased visitors, and other benefits anticipated which will ultimately support the governments ambition to break down barriers to opportunity. 

I am taking a report to my Executive later this month to agree next steps, including the establishment of local governance arrangements. I hope to hear back from your officials soon on the award of this funding.   

Isham Bypass 

The A509 Isham Bypass is a long-standing proposal for a dual carriageway bypass to the village of Isham which lies on the A509 between Kettering and Wellingborough. The bypass will relieve high traffic levels and associated environmental issues within the village. It will also support housing growth in both Kettering and Wellingborough and improve connectivity for residents and businesses in Wellingborough to the A14.  

The bypass forms part of the Major Road Network/Large Local Majors funding programme. The Department for Transport have provided funding towards the development of the Outline Business Case for the scheme. The planning application for the bypass was submitted on 9 July 2024. The Outline Business Case is currently undergoing final checks prior to submission in August 2024.

As part of its Network North transport funding announcement in September 2023, the previous government committed to providing 100% of the construction costs of Isham Bypass currently costed at £122.844 million. Although we have secured construction of the northern section of the original intended bypass by developers, sourcing a financial contribution would be extremely challenging, if not impossible, for us as a relatively new council.

We trust that, subject to a satisfactory review of the business case, the new Government will continue to support the scheme with a contribution towards the development of the Full Business Case and be able to make the same commitment to fund construction costs in full. 

While we have accepted the risk of developing the scheme, it should be pointed out that were the scheme to be cancelled it would have a severely detrimental impact on the Council’s finances. Around £8 million of capital funding expended on developing the bypass by the Council and its predecessors would need to be reclassified as revenue funding. This would present a major pressure on our budgets and financial reserves in what is already a challenging time for local government finances nationally.

Other Network North roads / transport funding 

In addition to the commitment surrounding Isham Bypass, the Network North announcement also promised the Council a share of the funding released by the cancellation of sections of HS2 in the areas of potholes, buses, and more general transport improvements. Details of the funding for North Northamptonshire were: 

• An additional £1.069m of pothole capital funding for both 2023/24 and 2024/25, as part of a minimum additional uplift of £62.45m between 2023/24 and 2033/34. 
• An initial £2.045m of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) Phase 3 funding for 2024/25, on top of £0.569m of BSIP Phase 2 (BSIP+) funding already allocated for both 2023/24 and 2024/25.
• An allocation of £149.208m of Local Transport Funding for the seven-year period 2025/26-2031/32. While it was understood that the majority of this funding would be in the latter years, initial allocations of funding for 2025/26 and 2026/27, largely capital but with an element of revenue funding, had been expected when the general election was called. 

While the significant additional funding offered by this announcement is incredibly important to us, we recognise that this is likely to be an area you will be scrutinising and would like to share our thoughts in these areas. 

• Addressing the backlog of highway maintenance is critical for North Northamptonshire, as it is for many areas. We have recognised this by adding £9m of our own capital funding over the three-year period 2024/25-2026/27 to the funding we receive from Government. In line with your manifesto commitment to fix one million more potholes across England each year, an increase in capital funding for highway maintenance over the allocations which have been received in recent years would support the council to deliver on key commitments for the benefit of those who use our highways.
• Since the start of the Covid pandemic, North Northamptonshire has not seen the same impact of commercial bus service withdrawals as other areas. However, many areas have seen a reduced frequency of service. We see restoring bus services to communities which do not have one as of high importance and have restored a small bus subsidy budget to enable this to happen. The additional Government funding referred to above, while most welcome, represents a challenge in introducing new or improved services. This is because of its short-term nature, and we have received permission to carry some of the funding forward to 2025/26. This has enabled us to prioritise services which we believe can attract sufficient passengers to become financially viable in the short to medium term, or where we have our own or developer funding available to supplement the Government funding in the longer-term. While we have set out our ambitions for buses in our Bus Service Improvement Plan submitted in June, in order to be able to continue improving bus services the key request is sustained Government revenue funding over as long a period as possible. 
• In terms of wider transport improvements, our annual Integrated Transport Block capital allocation of £1.364m is insufficient to deliver anything but several modest schemes.  We also find the frequent rounds of bidding for different transport funding rounds to be challenging and not the most efficient use of public resources.  We would favour bringing together as many of the transport funding rounds as possible into an increased Integrated Transport Block allocation. This would enable us to develop and deliver an effective programme of improvements to transform our transport infrastructure and meet the wider challenges of economic growth and climate change. 

Junction 10A, A14 

Junction 10A on the A14 east/west main highway, is a new road junction which forms critical infrastructure to enable the delivery of the 5,500 dwelling Hanwood Park development to the east of Kettering. It allows the land to be opened up for development. Of the dwellings, 2,117 have been consented under an outline planning permission granted on 1 April 2010, of which around 1,400 have already been occupied.

With the time limit for reserved matters applications having expired, the developer has submitted a new application for the remaining 3,383 dwellings. This was subject to a resolution to grant by our Planning Committee on 20 May 2024, subject to a Section 106 agreement and the withdrawal of a holding direction by National Highways. Delivery of the final 2,000 of these dwellings is dependent upon delivery of Junction 10A.

As was recognised by a previous minister in a Westminster Hall debate on 21 February 2024, the scheme has a strong business case, particularly because it has a high level of developer funding, with a memorandum of understanding in place between National Highways and the developer to progress the scheme. 

Technical work has been underway between the developers and National Highways to identify the most cost-effective, deliverable solution for the junction. The minister confirmed that subject to this work, and the Council granting the new planning permission, the junction would be included in the Road Investment Strategy for 2025-30 (RIS3).

Delivery of this junction is important to ensure continued delivery of new housing in North Northamptonshire, in line with your government’s objectives. We hope that you will be able to support its continued inclusion and delivery as part of RIS3. 

Thank you for your attention on these matters. We would welcome the opportunity for you to visit North Northamptonshire and to show you the continued growth and ambition in our area. I look forward to receiving prompt action and your commitment that you will uphold this important earmarked investment of £339.502mwhich is key to us ensuring growth in our area.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Jason Smithers
Leader of North Northamptonshire Council