117-405: Corby Cube is a municipal building in the town of Corby , Northamptonshire , England. Built in 2010, it is occupied by North Northamptonshire Council as its headquarters, but was originally built for Corby Borough Council (abolished in 2021). The building houses a council chamber, a register office , a public library, a 400-seat theatre and a 100-seat multi-use studio space. The building with
234-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
351-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
468-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
585-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
702-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
819-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
936-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
1053-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
1170-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
1287-739: A community radio station. Corby’s local newspaper is the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph . Corby's main football team is Corby Town F.C. , who play in the Southern League Division One Central. The Steelmen play at Steel Park and have an average home attendance of 431 in 2018/19. The town's other semi-professional football club are Stewarts & Lloyds Corby F.C. , who play in the United Counties League . S&L play their home matches at Occupation Road. Corby
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#17327804276821404-534: A factory here, and manufactured products for the UK market here. 2018 research by Sky News identified Corby as the town most threatened by job losses in the UK due to automation with 31% of employment subject to cliff-edge automation. According to the 2001 Census the proportion of the working age population with degree-level qualifications (8.5%) is the lowest of all areas in England and Wales. 39.3% have no GCSE -equivalent qualifications at all. The borough of Corby has
1521-522: A further third of the population are Scottish or of Scottish descent. The Scottish heritage is cherished by many inhabitants. There are Scottish social and sporting clubs and there are many fervent supporters of the Rangers and Celtic football clubs (indeed, Corby was home to the largest Rangers Supporters' Club outside Glasgow and Northern Ireland until its closure in February 2013 ) as well as
1638-528: A majority of 7,791 votes over the Conservatives . UKIP finished in third place whilst the Liberal Democrats finished in fourth place, losing their deposit. The by-election was of national and international media interest due to the constituency being a marginal seat . During the wait for the results announcement, "Corby" briefly trended worldwide on Twitter . The Conservatives took back
1755-509: A majority of 9,141 votes. The constituency's Conservative MP at the time, Tom Pursglove , had also been in favour of the UK leaving the European Union being one of the founders of Grassroots Out , the pro-Brexit organisation largely supported by Conservative and UKIP politicians. Corby used to have 15 wards at the time of the 2011 census however following a boundary change only 11 remained. Some entirely new wards were created in
1872-575: A new bus station in Corby are being considered by the council following the closure of the old bus station in August 2002. Following a number of years when the town had no railway station, a new facility opened on 23 February 2009. East Midlands Railway runs half-hourly services to London St Pancras via Kettering and Wellingborough . The route to London was converted to electric traction in May 2021. There
1989-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2106-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
2223-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
2340-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
2457-555: A range of vocational courses for post-16 students and adult learners. The nearest universities are the University of Northampton , 23 mi (37 km) to the south and both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University in Leicester , 25 mi (40 km) to the west. Brooke Weston Academy , was one of only fifteen CTCs in England, opened in 1990. Brooke Weston CTC consistently achieved examination results in
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#17327804276822574-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
2691-537: A relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
2808-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
2925-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3042-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
3159-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
3276-481: A ten-year development strategy with expenditure of £3,000 million from 1973 onwards, the objective of which was to convert BSC from a large number of small scale works, using largely obsolete equipment, to a far more compact organisation with highly competitive plant. Steelmaking was to be concentrated in five main areas: South Wales, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland, most of which are coastal sites with access to economic supplies of iron rich imported ores. It
3393-730: A £67 million regeneration scheme, auditors KPMG said. Also in June 2013, management of regeneration programmes, including the Cube, by Corby Council was condemned by consultants appointed by the Audit Commission. KPMG said arrangements obscured who should make key decisions, oversight at critical points was insufficient and project and financial management was poor. In July 2013 the Conservative group on Corby Council handed what they described as "suspicious" findings of an audit report into
3510-684: Is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district, in Northamptonshire , England, 23 miles (37 km) north-east of Northampton . In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby , which at the 2021 Census had a population of 75,571. Corby was once known as "Little Scotland" due to the large number of Scottish workers who came to its steelworks. Corby has undergone regeneration with
3627-470: Is about the loss of jobs in Corby. Corby was designated as a new town in 1950. Most of the housing in the town has been built since this date. The first new street completed was Bessemer Grove, about the same time that the re-built blast furnace was lit. New industry was subsequently attracted to the town when the Thatcher government designated it as an Enterprise Zone. By 1991 unemployment had returned to
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3744-463: Is also a limited peak time service running north to Oakham , Melton Mowbray , East Midlands Parkway and Derby . Since the 1980s the unemployment rate has returned to a level closer to the national average (2.7% in October 2005). Employment is biased towards manufacturing (36.8% compared with a regional average of 18.5%) and against public administration, health and education (10.0% compared with
3861-638: Is also home to the Corby East Midlands International Swimming Pool , which opened in 2009, and is home to its own swimming club. It is also home to the Stewarts and Lloyds Rugby Football Club which despite the long closure of the steel industry maintains its proud heritage of its industrial roots. The club plays in the RFU 's Midland South East 3 division. Corby also has an athletics club for under-11s to over 60s. In
3978-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
4095-422: Is complemented by a participation programme encouraging all parts of Corby community to get involved. Recently the theatre started screening films, twice a week and including current mainstream releases and the best in world, independent and art house cinema. A report in 2012 revealed that the Cube was built with dangerous design flaws and almost double its original estimated costs and a capacity of only half of what
4212-536: Is different from that of older towns. There are several dual carriageways, most of the principal roads have wide reservations and high speed limits and pedestrian crossings over them are often underpasses. However, Corby is only connected by dual carriageway to one neighbouring town, Kettering (the A6003 ). All other roads into the town are single carriageways. The three dual carriageways form an outer ring road around most of Corby, however it only encircles suburbs south of
4329-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
4446-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
4563-617: Is recorded in 1851 that the accent spoken in the northern parts of Northamptonshire would be more recognisable as a "West Country dialect". Scottish migration to Corby has created a unique population in the borough. The link with Scotland is a strong feature of the area: according to the 2001 Census , there were 10,063 Scottish-born in the Corby Urban Area ;– 18.9% of the population. A further 1.3 per cent were born in Northern Ireland . It has been estimated that
4680-473: Is stated to sell 17 times more Irn-Bru than any other store in England. Its popularity is cemented by the fact that it is available for purchase in all bars, nightclubs and pubs in the area. In 2014, Corby held a mock referendum in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum . 576 votes were cast, with 162 voting for Scottish independence and 414 voting against. According to the 2001 Census 1.7% of
4797-580: Is that the Queen was hunting in Rockingham Forest when she (dependent on the legend) either fell from her horse or became trapped in a bog whilst riding. Upon being rescued by villagers from Corby she granted the charter in gratitude for her rescue. Another popular explanation is that it was granted as a favour to her alleged lover Sir Christopher Hatton . The Corby Pole Fair is an event that has taken place every 20 years since 1862 in celebration of
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4914-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
5031-695: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
5148-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
5265-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
5382-425: The parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have
5499-591: The "suspicious" findings of an audit report to the police to see if a crime had been committed. The audit report examined four major projects, including the Corby Cube , the cost of which went from £35m to £47m. In the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union , Corby voted 64% in favour of leaving whilst only 36% voted to remain in the EU. The turnout was 74.1% with the leave vote winning with
5616-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
5733-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
5850-415: The 19th century with the coming of the railways and the discovery of extensive ironstone beds. By 1910 an ironstone works had been established. In 1931 Corby was a small village with a population of around 1,500. It grew rapidly into a reasonably sized industrial town, when the owners of the ironstone works, the steel firm Stewarts & Lloyds , decided to build a large integrated ironstone and steel works on
5967-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
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#17327804276826084-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
6201-465: The 8th century when Danish invaders arrived and the settlement became known as "Kori's by" – Kori's settlement. The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Corbei". Corby's emblem, the raven , derives from an alternative meaning of this word. These Danish roots were recognised in the naming of the most southern of the town's housing estates, Danesholme, around which one of
6318-622: The Corby Cube, the cost of which went from £35 million to £47 million. In January 2015, the BBC reported that repairs to the Cube were still going on five years after it opened. In March 2015 whistle-blower Steven Redfern, Corby Borough Council's former head of property, lodged a £1 million damages claim at the High Court against Corby Council. Redfern said he became "a target for people's venom" after complaining about high-profile land deals in
6435-571: The Corby constituency from Labour in 2015, with Conservative Tom Pursglove defeating Labour's Andy Sawford by a majority of 2,412 votes. In local politics, the now abolished Corby Borough Council was controlled by the Labour Party since 1979. In 2015, the council had 24 Labour representatives and 5 Conservatives. On 8 December 2014, Northamptonshire Police began an investigation into financial dealings by Corby Borough Council. In July 2013, Conservative councillors Rob McKellar and David Sims handed
6552-470: The Cube complex. Along with criticising the council board that ran the building project, the report claims architects Hawkins\Brown did not stick to its brief. Among its conclusions, the report stated that the current Labour-controlled council: "incurred substantial unforeseen costs in order to bring the building into an occupiable state but with limitations on occupancy still unresolved". In September 2012, Hawkins\Brown withdrew its threat of legal action against
6669-465: The Danish settlements was located. Corby was granted the right to hold two annual fairs and a market by Henry III in 1226. In 1568 Corby was granted a charter by Elizabeth I that exempted local landowners from tolls (the fee paid by travellers to use the long-distance public roads), dues (an early form of income tax) and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia. A popular legend
6786-736: The EU. The enterprise zone was promoted by the Corby Industrial Development Centre through a prospectus that parodied The Economist , titled The Ecorbyist ; publication continued at least as late as 1994. To the north of Corby, on the industrial estates , is a 350MW power station built in 1994; and the Rockingham Motor Speedway built in 2001. From 1894 until 1939 Corby was a parish in Kettering Rural District , in 1939 Corby became an urban district, on 1 April 1974
6903-833: The Local Elections on 6 May 2021, Corby returned 12 Labour Councillors and 3 Conservative Councillors across 5 wards, with the Conservatives only being elected in the Rural Ward. The newly created Corby Town Council returned 17 Labour Councillors across 4 Wards, which are all the seats on the Corby Town Council. In 2022, Corby Town Councillor Tafadzwa Chikoto became the first black mayor of Corby. In 2012, Corby bid to gain city status as part of Queen Elizabeth II 's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. However, it lost out to Perth , Chelmsford and St Asaph . It
7020-552: The New Conservative Governments Minister, Sir Keith Joseph announced the closure of Corby Steelworks. By the end of 1981 over 5,000 jobs had been lost from British Steel in Corby, and further cuts took the total loss to 11,000 jobs, leading to an unemployment rate of over 30%. Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales. The title track of Steeltown by Big Country
7137-533: The Scottish National Team. Many shops sell Scottish foods and a supermarket even introduced Gaelic signs to their Corby store (but they have since removed them). An annual Highland Gathering featuring traditional Scottish sports, music and dancing is held in the town. Corby has one Church of Scotland congregation [1] Local legend states that Corby sees the highest sales of the Scottish soft drink Irn-Bru of anywhere outside Scotland. Asda Corby
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#17327804276827254-483: The Town Wards as well as incorporating the surrounding parishes into Corby Rural. In March 2018, following Northamptonshire County Council becoming insolvent , due to financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers, the then Secretary of State for Local Government, Sajid Javid , sent commissioner Max Caller into the council, who recommended the county council and all district and borough councils in
7371-648: The Youth Development League, the upper age group gained promotion to Midland East 1 and gained promotion in the Heart of England Athletics League. The town is located along the A43 , A427 , A6003 and is 6 miles (9.7 km) from the A14 at Kettering . Corby lies within two hours' drive of four international airports: Birmingham , Luton , Stansted and East Midlands . Being a new town, Corby's road network
7488-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
7605-438: The architect and contractor and that action to recover extra money spent on the Cube is "a growing inevitability". On 8 December 2014, Northamptonshire Police began an investigation into financial dealings by Corby Borough Council. In July 2013, Conservative councillors had handed the "suspicious" findings of an audit report to the police to see if a crime had been committed. The audit report examined four major projects, including
7722-424: The borough council. The firm had, however, written to every borough councillor, asking for a chance to defend itself. Councillors were told not to respond "for legal reasons". In February 2013, water began dripping through the council chamber's ceiling forcing councillors to hold meetings in the canteen. This followed snow and heavy rain. The BBC reported that the Cube cost £47 million, over budget by £12 million, but
7839-713: The change however the Beanfield, Central, Danesholme, Rowlett, Rural West, Stanion and Corby Village, Weldon and Gretton and Lodge Park wards remained in existence. On the 1 April 2021, the Corby Borough Council was abolished and the Town of Corby now has 4 wards in the Town Council which are Oakley, Corby West, Kingswood and Hazel Lees and Lloyds, and 5 wards in the Unitary Authority which includes
7956-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
8073-793: The charter. The 1942 fair was not held due to the Second World War; it took place five years later. According to a newspaper report dated 14 June 1862 which focuses on the extravagances of the fair, the fugitive slave John Anderson was described as being educated in the Corby British School, giving the town an unusual link to slavery in the United States . The most recent pole fair was held on Friday, 3 June 2022, to coincide with The Queen 's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The local area has been worked for iron ore since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in
8190-498: The constituency in 1983. At the 2005 general election , Labour won Corby with a majority of just over 1,000 votes. At the 2010 general election, the sitting Labour MP Phil Hope lost the seat to writer Louise Bagshawe , the Conservative Party candidate, who became Louise Mensch after her marriage the following year. In 2012, Mensch resigned as an MP and the resulting by-election was won by Labour 's Andy Sawford with
8307-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
8424-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
8541-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
8658-559: The county be abolished, and replaced by two unitary authorities , one covering the West, and one the North of the county. These proposals were approved in April 2019. It meant that the districts of Daventry , Northampton and South Northamptonshire were merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire , whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire consists of
8775-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
8892-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
9009-423: The development and construction of the building. However, the full report contained commercial, financial and legally sensitive information so the public version of the report which was issued was heavily redacted with considerable blanking of text. In August 2012, the firm of architects of the Cube, Hawkins\Brown, threatened to take Corby council to court over the report into the £12 million authority-overspend on
9126-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
9243-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
9360-457: The final report on the project had not yet been released. Also in February, the length of time taken to publish the audit report into the overspend was called "very disappointing" by Local Government Secretary of State Eric Pickles . In June 2013 auditors found that the council had sold land now being developed by Tesco for millions of pounds below its market value. Corby Borough Council "may have made decisions contrary to law" in its management of
9477-416: The financial dealings of Corby Borough Council to the police for investigation. In August 2013 it was announced than another £600,000 was needed to mend roofs that have been leaking since the building was occupied. Work also needs completing on office space in the building which does not meet building fire safety regulations. Chief Executive Norman Stronach later said that the council would "seek redress" from
9594-477: The former Corby, East Northamptonshire , Kettering and Wellingborough districts. These new authorities came into being on 1 April 2021. Elections for the new authorities were due to be held on 7 May 2020, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and were instead held on 6 May 2021 . On 1 April 2021 a civil parish called Corby Town was formed. On 1 January 2024 the parish was renamed to "Corby". In
9711-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
9828-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
9945-488: The highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the East Midlands, outside of the metropolitan boroughs (unitary authorities), although Lincoln is very similar. According to the 2011 census, Corby had a population of 61,255 and was 85.0% White British, 9.1% Other White (not including White Irish and Irish Traveller), 1.4% mixed race, 1.4% Asian and 1.7% Black. Corby's least White British ward is Oakley Vale where 70.7% of
10062-426: The intentional burning of oil and latex to hide the glowing Bessemer converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews. The only known remaining scars from German attacks can be found in the form of bullet holes visible on the front fascia of the old post office in Corby village (now known as Decades bar and restaurant). The Corby steelworks made a notable contribution to the war effort by manufacturing
10179-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
10296-546: The layout for the first 500 houses. The town now underwent its second wave of expansion, mainly from Scotland . Corby is famous for its Scottish heritage based on decades of incoming steel workers and was for a time known locally as "Little Scotland". In 1967 the British steel industry was nationalised and the Stewarts & Lloyds steel tube works at Corby became part of British Steel Corporation . The Government approved
10413-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
10530-508: The national average. The recovery of Corby was explained in 1990 by John Redwood , then a junior minister in the Department of Trade and Industry , as being a result of the establishment of the Enterprise Zone, the promotion of Corby by the Thatcher government, the work of private investors and the skills of the work force. Others believe the town's recovery was significantly assisted by its central location and substantial grants from
10647-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
10764-720: The newly opened Corby Technical School which opened to students in an old unused primary school in September 2012 with the new building completed and opened in November 2013. Corby Business Academy has a special unit for children with severe special educational needs. All four schools have sixth forms for post-16 students. Corby has 17 primary schools, of which two are Church of England schools, three are Roman Catholic and one for children with severe behavioural and emotional difficulties . Corby has an Urban Regeneration Company – North Northants Development Company, which now covers
10881-418: The next 30 years through housing on large estates such as Prior's Hall, Little Stanion, Oakley Vale and Great Oakley. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were
10998-466: The opening of Corby railway station and Corby International Pool in 2009 and the Corby Cube in 2010. The Cube houses a 450-seat theatre, public library and other community amenities. Mesolithic and Neolithic artefacts have been found in the area surrounding Corby and human remains dating to the Bronze Age were found in 1970 at Cowthick . The first evidence of permanent settlement comes from
11115-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
11232-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
11349-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
11466-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
11583-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
11700-463: The population are White British while Corby's least ethnically diverse ward is Rural West, where 95.6% of the population are White British. In 2011, 5567 people registered their ethnicity as 'Other White' or 9.1% of the population. This figure includes a large community of people from Poland and the Baltic States. The Corby campus of Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education provides
11817-437: The population are non-white and the average age of the population (37.2) is slightly lower than the average for England and Wales (38.6). November 2010 saw the opening of the Corby Cube , a major development in the town centre. As well as new council chamber, registrar office, and public library, the Cube is home to a 450-seat theatre and 100 capacity studio theatre. A programme of live theatre, dance, music and standup comedy
11934-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
12051-628: The porridge eating contest next time; he's on the 19th bowl. Roger ." Local news and television programmes is provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia . Television signals are received from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter, BBC East Midlands and ITV Central can also be received from the Waltham TV transmitter. The town’s local radio stations are BBC Radio Northampton on 103.6 FM, Heart East on 96.6 FM, Smooth East Midlands (formerly Connect FM ) on 107.4 FM and Corby Radio on 96.3 FM,
12168-404: The principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of
12285-463: The regional average of 25.9%). Much of industry is concentrated in purpose-built industrial estates on the outskirts of the town. Fairline Boats were manufactured here. Weetabix Limited make Weetos in the north of the town. RS Components are based near Rockingham Speedway. Taste Original (formerly Puredrive), part of Zwanenberg Food Group UK has operated from Corby since 1988 making cooked meat snacking products. Amy's Kitchen has recently opened
12402-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
12519-408: The site. The start of construction in 1934 drew workers from all over the country including many workers from the depressed west of Scotland and Irish labourers. The first steel was produced in October 1935 and for decades afterwards the steel works dominated the town. By 1939 the population had grown to around 12,000, at which time Corby was thought to be the largest "village" in the country, but it
12636-587: The steel tubes used in Operation Pluto (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to supply fuel to Allied forces on the European continent. In 1950, with a population of 18,000, Corby was designated a New Town with William Holford as its architect. By 1951, he prepared the development plan with a car oriented layout and many areas of open space and woodland. In 1952, Holford produced the town centre plan and in 1954
12753-592: The top 5% of English state schools, and has been a City Academy since September 2008. Since 1990 several of Corby's other secondary schools have fared less well with a series of poor examination results and critical inspection reports leading to mergers and closures, the most recent being the closure of Our Lady and Pope John School in 2005. Currently there are five secondary schools in Corby: Brooke Weston Academy , Lodge Park Academy , Corby Business Academy , Kingswood Secondary Academy and
12870-488: The town centre and a small amount of countryside. Corby is served by six bus routes under the Corby Star brand name. Route X4 connects the town with Peterborough , Oundle , Weldon , Danesholme, Kettering , Isham , Wellingborough , Earls Barton , Northampton , It is also operated by Stagecoach Midlands . National Express coaches also provide long-distance connections to the north and Scotland. Plans to build
12987-458: The town. The case was listed to go to the High Court in the summer, but was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. In October 2015, Corby Council stated that work on the Corby Cube had been completed, five years after it opened but with a £13 million overspend. On 3 February 2020, the Council was advised to abandon any legal action against the builder and designer. Corby Corby
13104-473: The urban district and parish were abolished and Corby became an unparished area in Corby non-metropolitan district. The Corby constituency contains parts of traditionally Conservative East Northamptonshire that balance the traditionally Labour town of Corby, leading to a marginal constituency that has gone to the party forming the UK Government at every general election since the creation of
13221-544: The whole of North Northamptonshire rather than just Corby (it was previously known as Catalyst Corby). The company is working closely with Corby Borough Council, Land Securities (town centre owners), the East Midlands Development Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency to regenerate the town centre as part of the masterplan for the whole town. The population of Corby town is expected to double in
13338-559: Was at that point that Corby was re-designated an urban district (see the Local Government section below). During the Second World War the Corby steelworks were expected to be a target for German bombers but in the event there were only a few bombs dropped by solitary planes and there were no casualties. This may be because the whole area was blanketed in huge dense black, low-lying clouds created artificially by
13455-478: Was designed by Hawkins\Brown and built by Galliford Try at a cost of £47.5 million, opened as the headquarters of Corby Borough Council on 2 November 2010. A report by Corby Borough Council in 2012 revealed that the Cube was built with dangerous design flaws and almost double its original estimated costs and a capacity of only half of what was planned. In 2012 the working group of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel published its report into Cube. It looks into
13572-501: Was not until 1975 that a closure programme was agreed after a 14-month review by Lord Beswick, the then Minister of State for Industry. Corby was not one of the Beswick Plants that were to close in the review. By this time BSC was plunging into loss and important parts of the investment programme was held back. The European Union, Davignon Plan, had also asked for Steel Capacity in Europe to be significantly reduced. In May 1979,
13689-599: Was planned. A crater on Mars discovered in the late 1970s was named after Corby, in reference to a famous transcript of a conversation in June 1969 between the crew of the Apollo 11 mission and mission control, whereby world news was relayed to the crew, amongst it was the news that "in Corby, an Irishman named John Coyle won the World's Porridge Eating Championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in 10 minutes". The reply from Apollo 11: "I'd like to enter Aldrin in
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