The North Northamptonshire Council Executive met to discuss a range of issues, including the adoption of the Corporate Plan 2025-2029, the financial performance of the council, and a new policy for adult social care direct payments. They approved the Great Addington Neighbourhood Plan, and also approved going out to procurement for the electoral services printing and mailing contract. The Executive also agreed to introduce a premium for long term empty properties and second homes to encourage owners to bring properties back into use more quickly to address housing shortages.

Finance and Performance Report

The Executive reviewed the council's financial performance for Quarter 2 of 2025/26, as detailed in the Finance and Performance Report - Quarter 2. The report highlighted a forecast overspend of £15.311m for the General Fund, an underspend of £942k for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and a deficit of £19.390m for the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

The Executive noted that £511k of the Corporate Contingency will be used for the pay award which was higher than budget and £150k will be used to fund a review of the delivery of Adult Social Care Transformation for older person pathways.

The Executive approved budget re-profiling across the MTFP Capital Programme of £24.4m. They also noted the treasury management position for Quarter 2, detailing the activity undertaken during the second quarter of the financial year ending 31st March 2026.

Finally, the Executive noted the assessment of the current deliverability of the 2025/26 General Fund savings proposals.

Council Tax Premiums

The Executive considered proposals to introduce a premium for Long Term Empty Properties and Second Homes, as detailed in the Council Tax Premiums - Second Homes and Long Term Empty Properties report. They endorsed the proposals to introduce a premium for Long Term Empty Properties once they have been empty for one year (currently two years) effective from 1st April 2026. They also agreed to introduce a premium for Second Homes effective from 1st April 2027, giving council tax payers the required 12 months’ notice of intention to introduce this premium. The council hopes that this will encourage owners to bring properties back into use more quickly to address housing shortages.

The report noted that:

Given the priority to increase available housing in North Northamptonshire this would not help utilise this measure to encourage owners to bring properties back in to use.

The Executive recommended the introduction of the proposed Council Tax Premiums to Council at its meeting on 11th December 2025.

Corporate Plan 2025-2029

The Executive endorsed the Corporate Plan 2025-2029, subject to any amendments relating to feedback from the Corporate Scrutiny Committee. The Corporate Plan will be reported to the December meeting of Full Council for formal adoption.

Travellers Temporary Stopping Site

The Executive discussed an update report on the Travellers Temporary Stopping Site. They noted the report and recommended that the project to provide a Travellers Temporary Stopping Site be progressed in relation to the proposed revised preferred site on land in the ownership of North Northamptonshire Council off of Junction 11 of the A14 close to the village of Woodford, known as ‘Generals Corner’.

They revoked the decision of 21st December 2023 to provide a Travellers Temporary Stopping site at the previous preferred location on council land adjacent to Junction 3 of the A14 close to the town of Rothwell.

The Executive agreed that the Temporary Stopping site be progressed as an emergency stopping site with associated facilities, and delegated authority to the Executive Director for Place and Economy in consultation with the Executive Member for Regulatory Services to submit an application for planning permission for the project and procure the necessary works to provide the Travellers Temporary Stopping site, and undertake any other actions required to deliver the project within the approved budget.

Great Addington Neighbourhood Plan

The Executive formally made (adopted) the Great Addington Neighbourhood Plan following the referendum held on 9th October 2025. They also authorised the Executive Director of Place and Economy to publicise the decision and delegated authority to make any minor typographical or formatting amendments to the plan prior to publication.

Future Fleet Strategy

The Executive approved the procurement of contracted services, being a key decision, over £500,000 for the Future Fleet Strategy. They approved the procurement of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered vehicles to satisfy the fleet requirement, including the assessment of lease or purchase as outlined in option 2(a). The Executive also delegated authority to procure and sign the necessary documents as part of the procurement process, to the Assistant Director for Assets and Environment in consultation with the Executive Member for Assets, Waste and Environmental Services and Executive Director of Finance and Performance (s151 Officer¹).

The Executive approved the submission of a further report detailing the findings of first stage of the procurement process to provide the necessary information to guide the future configuration of the corporate Fleet.

Local Council Tax Support Scheme 2026/27

The Executive endorsed a proposed Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2026/27 that maintained the current 2025/26 scheme, allowing the changes required to reflect the annual uprating of allowances and premiums and statutory base legislation changes which are required to be made to the scheme. The Executive recommended the proposed Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2026/27 to Council at its meeting on 11th December 2025.

Pension Policy Update

The Executive approved the implementation of a Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) pension arrangement for members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). They also approved that earnings related payments, such as overtime, pay increases, contractual allowances, occupational maternity pay, occupational sickness pay, and redundancy are calculated on the notional salary before applying the salary sacrifice reduction. The Council's LGPS Discretionary Pension Policy Statement was amended to permit LGPS staff to participate in a Shared Cost AVC scheme, and the Executive approved partnering with an external provider to deliver a fully managed service covering Shared Cost AVCs.

North Northamptonshire Cemetery Regulation

The Executive approved the proposed Cemetery Regulations and their application to all 13 cemeteries owned and managed by North Northamptonshire Council. They also approved the digging of only single depth new graves in areas where the soil conditions make the digging and reopening of single depth graves unsuitable, and agreed to the alignment of the opening hours in Wellingborough cemeteries to match the hours across the rest of the North Northamptonshire cemeteries.

Adult Social Care Direct Payments Policy

The Executive approved the proposed Adult Social Care Direct Payments Policy and delegated all future reviews and updates to the Policy to the Executive Director of Adults, Health Partnerships and Housing in consultation with the Executive Member for Adults and Health Partnerships.

Housing Fire Safety Policy

The Executive adopted the Fire Safety Policy as set out at Appendix A to the Draft Housing Fire Safety Policy report.

Electoral Services Printing and Mailing Contract

The Executive approved the procurement of specialist electoral print and mailing services for the period of 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 to the value of £500,000. They authorised the Director of Law and Governance in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance, Efficiency and Change to procure and award the contract(s) necessary for the implementation of election specialist print and mailing services in-line with the procurement routes and maximum budget outlined in this report.

Performance Indicator Report

The Executive noted the performance of the council as measured by the available indicators as at Period 6 (Q1) 2025/26, set out within the Performance Indicator Report 2025/26 (Period 6 – September / Q2) and provided feedback as appropriate.