The Constitution of North Northamptonshire Council met on Friday 08 May 2026 to discuss the council's governing document. The meeting's agenda focused on reviewing and potentially amending the council's constitution, which outlines how decisions are made, how the public can participate, and the roles of councillors and officers.

North Northamptonshire Constitution

The primary item for discussion was the North Northamptonshire Constitution itself. This comprehensive document, last updated on 8 May 2026, serves as the council's rulebook, detailing its operational framework. The report pack provided a detailed index of the constitution's nine parts, covering:

• Part One: Introduction, Summary, and Explanation, including Decision Making principles.
• Part Two: Public Participation and Rights, outlining how citizens can get involved.
• Part Three: The Council, including its role, meeting procedure rules, and budget and policy framework procedure rules.
• Part Four: Committees, detailing the governance structure, including the Planning Committee, Democracy and Standards Committee, Audit and Governance Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board, Employment Committee, and Licensing and Appeals Committee.
• Part Five: The Executive, covering Executive Procedure Rules and Access to Information Procedure Rules.
• Part Six: Joint Arrangements, outlining how the council collaborates with other authorities.
• Part Seven: Scrutiny Procedure Rules, detailing the role of scrutiny committees.
• Part Eight: Councillors, including their roles, codes of conduct, and allowances.
• Part Nine: Officers, covering management structure, schemes of delegation, codes of conduct, and contract procedure rules.

The report pack also included a glossary of key terms used within the constitution, such as Key Decision, Executive, and Statutory Officers, to aid understanding. The constitution itself was last approved by the North Northamptonshire Shadow Authority and the North Northamptonshire Shadow Executive Committee in early 2021.