Northamptonshire council area

Selling Land in North Northamptonshire

North Northamptonshire takes in Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Rushden and the towns and villages of the Nene valley. Its strategy dates from 2016, an inspector found in January 2026 that its housing land falls short of five years, and its new local plan for 2024 to 2045 is due to reach its first consultation on content this autumn.

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Corby, Kettering and the Nene Valley Towns Under One Council

North Northamptonshire Council was formed on 1 April 2021 from the former Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough councils. It covers about 987 square kilometres and some 374,000 people. Corby is the largest town and Kettering the second, with Wellingborough, Rushden, Desborough, Rothwell, Irthlingborough, Raunds, Thrapston and Oundle making up the rest of the urban map.

A strategy from 2016. The North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy, adopted in July 2016 and running to 2031, is now 10 years old.
Local detail added in 2023. East Northamptonshire's Part 2 plan, covering Rushden and the Nene valley towns to 2031, was adopted by the new council on 7 December 2023.
A protected wetland. The flooded gravel workings of the upper Nene valley are a Special Protection Area for birds, and it shapes what new homes nearby pay.
Building above target. The council delivered 6,016 homes against a requirement of 5,580 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 108%.
A disputed land supply. The council claimed just over five years at a public inquiry in late 2025. The inspector disagreed.

Much of today's building is on urban extensions agreed a decade or more ago, and how fast they deliver decides a great deal for everyone else's land.

North Northamptonshire in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
108%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
4.6 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Stated by the inspector at the Barton Road, Barton Seagrave appeal (7 January 2026), as an approximate figure against the council's claim of 5.24 years; the council said in July 2026 that it is recalculating its position.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
6,016
of 5,580 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2016
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Local Plan 2024 to 2045: consultation on proposed content timetabled for October to November 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Below Five Years, on an Inspector's Reckoning

The clearest test of the council's supply came at an inquiry into 58 homes on land at Barton Road, Barton Seagrave, an open field the inspector placed inside Kettering's urban area. The council put its supply at 5.24 years, the appellant at 3.94. In his decision of 7 January 2026 the inspector worked through the disputed sites and settled between the two:

Source: appeal decision APP/M2840/W/25/3368839, 7 January 2026.
Part of the calculation	Figure at the inquiry
Yearly requirement	2,002 homes, agreed by both sides
Buffer	5%
Five-year requirement with buffer	10,511 homes
Council's deliverable supply	11,016 homes
Removed by the inspector	1,296 homes, lacking clear evidence of timely delivery
Inspector's conclusion	about 4.6 years

Much of what he took out came from the big urban extensions: 320 homes at Hanwood Park, where the council's projections struck him as overly optimistic, 180 at Rushden East, whose application had been undetermined since 2020, and 200 at Stanton Cross on build rates.

A Shortfall Found, and the Appeal Still Dismissed

The appeal failed all the same. The inspector was not satisfied the new access onto Barton Road could be made safely and gave that harm very significant weight, adding harm to the landscape and to the setting of the Grade I listed St Botolph's Church. Even with the balance tilted towards housing, he found the harm significantly and demonstrably outweighed the benefits. A supply below five years opens the door, but the site still has to work.

In July 2026 the council's own committee report on a Dingley application accepted the inspector's finding and said the council "is currently calculating its own revised land supply position". Until a new figure is published, the inspector's is the latest tested one.

What That Means Under National Policy

Policy S5 of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework treats a supply short of five years as evidence of unmet housing need. That is not an automatic finding in favour of any field: the land must relate well to a town or village, be capable of being served by roads, schools and drainage, and cause no harm that substantially outweighs the benefits. With the delivery result at 108%, the supply is the only part of the numbers doing any work here.

The Urban Extensions That Carry the Numbers

The 2016 strategy leans heavily on large planned extensions of the main towns. The council's own pages describe the biggest:

Extension	Scale	Where it stands
Hanwood Park, east Kettering	Up to 5,500 homes	Outline permission granted on 1 April 2010
West Corby	Up to 4,500 homes	Outline permission approved in December 2019
Rushden East	Up to 2,200 homes in the outline application	Lodged in 2020 and still undetermined at the January 2026 appeal
Stanton Cross, east Wellingborough	3,750 homes	First identified in the local plan in 1999; the inspector trimmed its five-year count

Schemes this size, with schools and local centres, take years to build. A modest scheme on the edge of a market town or village, with a single owner and a clear access, can be delivered well inside five years, and that near-term supply is precisely what the inspector found lacking. Our paddocks and small sites page shows the kind of land we mean.

Growth Towns First, Then the Market Towns and Villages

The strategy ranks places, with growth towns at the top as the focus for major investment and market towns below them serving their own hinterlands. It also answers the question a shortfall raises. The strategy says that if extra sites are needed to keep a five-year supply in a district, "these should be identified at the Growth Town followed, if necessary and relevant, by the Market Towns within that district". East Northamptonshire's Part 2 plan shows how that works on the ground: Rushden is the growth town and the focus for major development, Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough, Raunds, Thrapston and Oundle are market towns, eight larger freestanding villages can take larger schemes where a defined local need is shown, and elsewhere the restraint villages and open countryside are limited to conversions and rural diversification.

Further down the order, the countryside is guarded closely, shortfall or not. Dingley is a Category C village, which the council treats as having no village boundary, so land there counts as open countryside. When three self-build homes were proposed on its edge, the July 2026 committee report recommended refusal. It accepted the inspector's finding of about 4.6 years and a self-build register of 175 entries against 67 plots permitted, yet concluded that self-build status "is not in itself a justification for development in unsustainable countryside locations". A shortfall helps land that relates well to a town or a larger village; it does far less for a plot in a small village.

Inside the growth towns and market towns. Plots and backland inside the built-up edge fall under policy S4, whose starting point is yes, with a refusal justified only where the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
On the edge of a growth town. With the supply short, well related land here has the strongest S5 case, and the strategy points extra growth to these towns first.
On the edge of a market town. The same policy applies, with scale matched to the town and its services.
In the larger villages. Infill and small schemes for local needs are the usual routes; in the smallest villages and open countryside, the conversion of existing buildings.

Gravel Pit Birds and Warehouse Land

The Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits

The old gravel workings along the Nene form a Special Protection Area of 1,358 hectares, classified in 2011 and stretching into both Northamptonshire councils. New homes within 5.9 kilometres pay towards managing visitor pressure: £371.17 per home from 10 June 2026, plus an £85 administration fee per application. Schemes of around 500 homes or more are expected to provide their own natural green space. It is a known cost, and we allow for it from the first appraisal.

The Thrapston Logistics Appeal

Following an appeal decision on land east of Halden's Parkway, Thrapston, on 22 October 2025, the council's own strategy page records that the inspector found a significant unmet need for strategic logistics, that the spatial element of the logistics policy is likely to be treated as out of date for large warehousing, and that two other strategy policies are partly out of date for that use. That does not change the housing picture, but it matters if your land sits by a main road junction, because it shows the plan's limits on warehouse sites no longer carry full weight.

The Land We Look for in North Northamptonshire

Fields of 2 acres or more on the edges of Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough or Rushden.
Land beside Desborough, Rothwell, Raunds, Thrapston, Irthlingborough or Oundle that backs onto existing homes.
Small plots within the larger villages, suited to self-build or a few homes.
Former yards and commercial land within or next to a town.
Land mostly in Flood Zone 1, above the Nene flood plain.

Our work starts with access, the question that decided Barton Road, then drainage and ecology, and every pound of it is ours. The option price is fixed when we sign, pitched above what the field is worth as it stands, and the land stays in your use throughout. Should the planning fail, the field remains yours and nothing is owed. How it works sets out each step.

Autumn 2026 to January 2029: The New Plan's Clock

The New Local Plan

The council is preparing a North Northamptonshire Local Plan for 2024 to 2045 under the new plan-making system. Its call for sites ran from 20 May to 1 July 2026 alongside the scoping consultation, and the council says submissions will be assessed using its land availability methodology, which scores sites against 47 constraints. The published timetable, in force since 27 April 2026, sets out what follows:

Dates are the council's and may move.
Stage	Council's timetable
Consultation on proposed content and evidence	October to November 2026
Gateway 2, observations from the Planning Inspectorate	March 2027
Consultation on the proposed plan	May to July 2027
Gateway 3	March 2028
Examination	June to December 2028
Adoption	January 2029

The autumn consultation will show which way the plan is leaning, and evidence for a site does most good if it is ready by then. What each consultation stage asks of a landowner is set out in our call for sites and local plans guide.

A Recalculated Supply

The council's housing land supply page, last updated in March 2026, says it is recalculating and has prepared an interim housing position statement, to give "a clear and consistent approach to decision making on new housing proposals" until it can show five years or adopts the new plan. The revised figure will either confirm a shortfall or claim five years again. We make no forecast. A shortfall keeps S5 in play for well related land; a return to five years would point most unallocated fields back to the new plan.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 108% nothing follows from it. Under 95% the council would need an action plan; under 85% its supply buffer would rise to 20%, widening any shortfall; under 75% unmet need would be taken as existing under S5 regardless of supply.

Reorganisation Already Behind It

With the change to a unitary council completed in 2021, the body consulting this autumn is the one expected to take the plan through to adoption.

Questions About Land in North Northamptonshire

The council said it had more than five years of land. Which figure counts?

The most recent tested figure is the inspector's from January 2026, and in July 2026 the council said it was recalculating. Until it publishes a new position, decision makers are likely to give the inspector's finding real weight.

I missed the call for sites that closed on 1 July 2026. Is it too late?

Not necessarily. The timetable places the next consultation in October and November 2026, and a site with good evidence can still be put to the council. Well related land can also be considered on an application while the supply is short.

My land is near Hanwood Park or Rushden East. Do the big extensions shut other sites out?

No. They make up much of the planned growth, but the inspector found their pace too slow to count in full, which is part of why the supply fell short. Smaller sites nearby that can be built quickly help fill that gap.

My village has no settlement boundary. Can anything be built?

It is harder. Villages without a boundary count as open countryside, and in July 2026 officers recommended refusing even three self-build homes at Dingley on that basis, despite the shortfall. Converting existing buildings, or land at a larger village or town, are the likelier routes, and our review will say plainly which applies to yours.

My land is within 5.9 kilometres of the Nene gravel pits. What does that cost me?

Nothing directly. New homes there carry a per-home contribution towards managing visitor pressure, which comes out of the scheme: the price we agree already allows for it, and you pay none of it yourself.

Tell Us About Your Land in North Northamptonshire

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.