Friday Brief: Northants Reform UK run councils clock up biggest ever overspends as long running problems remain
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Northants two Reform UK run councils have managed the worst financial year on record since the authorities began.
In their first year of governance, the Reform UK administrations have posted a collective overspend of £20m in the 2025/26 financial year, failing to balance the books as they should be done.
In the West the authority has had a £7m overspend and that sum was almost double in the North, where the authority has overspent by £13.8m. The budgets had been set by the previous Conservative administration in February 2025 but were adopted by their Reform UK successors.
North situation
On Tuesday morning at the council’s executive meeting finance cabinet member Graham Cheatley attempted to explain away the overspend on its £406m budget by pointing the finger of blame in the direction of past and present governments.
He said councils all over the country were “being squeezed from every direction” and added that the cost of social care alone consumes up to 58 per cent of local budgets.
“More councils are relying on exceptional financial support and Section 114 [bankruptcy] notices, once rare, have become normalised,” he said.
“It’s the direct consequence of years of neglect by successive governments, now compounded by a Labour administration that has failed to deliver a genuinely fair funding settlement.
“We are being asked to deliver more services to more people with less money.”
But NN Journal’s analysis of the budgets since the council was formed in 2021 show that the overall budget of the authority has increased by a huge 39 per cent from £292m in the council’s inaugural year to £406m in the most recent financial year.
In terms of funding, the council tax portion of the budget has risen from £180m to £214m and business rates funds have increased significantly. They were £66m in the 2022/23 financial year and were £115m in the recent financial year. Money collected in business rates can fund day to day spending. The council’s £13.8m overspend follows a £400,000 underspend in the 2024/25 financial year, a £9m overspend in 23/24, £1m in 22/23 and an £1.8m underspend in 21/22.
The biggest overspend - as it has been each year - is children’s services. The service is managed by the independent Northamptonshire Children’s Trust and this year the overspend that had to be found by North Northamptonshire Council was £13.1m. Asked what solutions he and his colleagues have to tackle the overspend Cllr Cheatley said in a statement:
“We have already delivered 86% of our savings programme this year, which is a strong performance, but we recognise there is more to do.
”In the short term, we are using reserves in a planned and controlled way to manage the overspend. That gives us stability, but we are clear this is not a long-term solution.
Going forward, our focus is on: Continuing to deliver remaining savings through our transformation programme (with over £20m of savings planned for 2026/27), tightening spending controls across departments, Improving efficiency and productivity, reviewing how services are delivered to ensure they are sustainable.“Alongside this, we are actively investing in transformation to reduce costs longer term, including digital systems, service redesign, and demand reduction approaches across our highest-cost services.
“We are also continuing to make the case to government for a fairer funding settlement by working with the County Councils Network, because without that, the pressure on reserves will persist not just here, but across local government.
“Children’s services are the single biggest area of pressure, accounting for the majority of the overspend.
“The issues are increasing numbers of children needing support, more complex and high-need cases, a national shortage of placements, which drives up costs.”
He said the council was reducing reliance on high-cost external placements, including developing more local provision such as children’s homes and school places.
In contrast to the pre unitary days when the executive meetings of Northamptonshire County Council used to be attended by many local councillors, these days few bother to attend.
In the North only the Green party deputy leader turned up, but did not question the overspend.
The largest Conservative opposition group, led by Helen Harrison (who is paid an £11,000 special allowance annually to perform the role) did not have any councillors present. When we contacted Cllr Harrison to ask why, she responded in a statement:
“I am very confident that we, the Conservative Group on NNC are absolutely fulfilling our role in scrutinising and holding to account the current Reform administration.
She said she asked questions about the children’s services overspend at the corporate scrutiny meeting [held in April] and accused Reform of ‘appear[ing] to be afraid of the scrutiny’ due to not having the main scrutiny committee chaired by her official opposition group. The scrutiny committee is chaired by independent Cllr Jim Hakewill.
She said:
“Regarding the Executive meetings of the Administration, I can again report that scrutiny is unwelcome. During the four years of the Conservative administration, we encouraged councillors to attend and question us on the decisions that we were making. As Executive members, we presented our papers and answered all questions as fully as we could. When Reform took over, all Executive papers were presented by the officers and we were told that we could no longer ask questions of the Executive, we could only make statements. That is not scrutiny.”
Labour group leader Cllr Mark Pengelly said in a statement:
“Unlike any other group leaders I do not receive an allowance for being a group leader nor do I get any other allowance for being a scrutiny chair but I do get my basic allowance .
“I am still in full time employment so I need to make decisions on meetings I attend and do not attend to ensure the time I do take off for council business ( which is mainly holidays ) will be beneficial to those I represent.
“Cllr Baker attended the last executive and spoke on two items and I attended the executive a few months back but we do have three members who work.
“I do have to attend some day time meetings so I need to decide where my time serves my constituents best.”
He said his group would ‘be upping the scrutiny on Reform this year’.
West situation
At the West cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening, Cllr John Slope, cabinet member for finance, said that it had been a “difficult year” which had been “managed carefully”. He said that the £7m overspend “sounds a large number” and is “one that we take seriously”, but explained that it accounted for just 1.6 per cent of the council’s overall budget.
“The challenges ahead for 2026/27 remain real, particularly on SEND and children’s placements, but this outturn demonstrates the organisation’s ability to manage significant pressure without losing control of the overall position,” he told the meeting.
The total overspend for the financial year was partially offset by underspends in other council services and the full use of an £11.4m contingency budget, which was set aside in the general fund to be used to account for any unforeseen risks during the year.
Savings of £20.1m were also delivered out of £24.6m efficiencies that were budgeted for the 2025/26 year.
Leader of the opposition and Conservative councillor Daniel Lister said that twelve months ago the Reform administration “sat here and criticised the Conservative administration’s financial management”. He called their own delivery into question in light of the 2025/26 budget report.
“You inherited a balanced budget,” he told cabinet members.
“Last year’s overall position was an underspend after contingency use; this year it’s a £7 million overspend after burning through every penny of the £11.4m increased contingency that we included.
“The pressures did not change between this year and last year, the management did and every major directorate has got worse on his watch,” he said.
Cllr Sally Keeble, leader of the Labour group, raised concerns about the same ‘problem areas’ coming forward again with the large overspends in children’s and adults’ services. She questioned if the trajectory for the current 2026/27 financial year would therefore be the same and how it would be turned around “in what is likely to be a more difficult year”.
Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Jonathan Harris, also reflected on the council’s £7m overspend, highlighting that it was the first time it had to be funded from a reserves pot. According to the report, WNC started the year off with £100m in its general fund reserves and ended 2025/26 with an estimated £95.4m left over.
“I hope that this administration has learned and will treat the last year as a learning experience because we’ve seen taxes go up, we’ve seen debt go up, we’ve seen contingency used in the first six months of the financial year,” he added.
Leader of WNC, Cllr Mark Arnull, said he would be willing to raise the issue of the costs that local councils bear for children’s services to the government.
He told members:
“In one year, I think we’ve done a huge amount to be proud of in turning things around from the legacy we inherited, and there’s a very long way to go.”
By Sarah Ward and Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Other news
The communications between Kim Thompson and her husband Michael in the months before her death were heard by the jury in her murder trial today.
Kim Thompson, 43, died at her home in Pinewood Road, Northampton on August 9 last year. Her husband of 19 years has been charged with her rape and murder as well as perverting the course of justice by attempting to cover up her death. He denies all charges.
This morning’s court session at Nottingham Crown Court involved reams of messages between the pair in the year before her death, as well as details of secret recordings Thompson had made in the home.
In one distressed 20 minute voice note to her husband in 2025, she said ‘You think I am a piece of shit’ and ‘I am so messed up in the head’.
She told him ‘I am to blame just because of how I am.’
“I look back and I think to myself I was never right for you. I know you never felt loved, no matter what I did.”
Throughout the messages Kim is heard repeatedly taking the blame. In one message she said: “I don’t care, I just need to be out [of the house] because I can’t cope with this.” She says she is disgusted and ashamed of herself. In another she becomes annoyed that Thompson had referred to her as ‘the wicked witch of the west’ to a friend.
The court heard that Thompson had told his wife that mouldy food in the house affected his mental health. He had a file in his phone called ‘excess food’ in which he would save photos of items his wife had brought into the home.
In one message Thompson accused his wife of a ‘never ending smear campaign’ against him and of playing the victim. In another he told her that he ‘saw behind your mask’ and called her ‘Alice in the rabbit hole’.
In the weeks before her death in one message she asked her estranged husband to stop going through her phone and checking her messages and secretly recording her. She apologised for staying so long in the family home after their separation and said she would leave soon.
The court heard the couple’s ongoing text arguments continued until the days before her death when she was away working in Manchester. Thompson sent his wife screenshots of old messages from 2012 when she admitted to an affair and had text her husband that he ‘deserved so much better’. She asked him to stop sending her messages because it sends her ‘back to a place where she can’t function’.
The trial continues.
Calls have been made for the whip to be removed from the former Reform UK chairman of the North unitary, following our investigation which led to his resignation.
Cllr Maurice Eglin stood down from the civic role yesterday after we put to him several historic tweets he had posted in the months before his election last May. He had made a number of Islamaphobic posts as well as posts in defence of far right agitator Tommy Robinson and had retweeted the leader of Britain First Paul Golding.
He has not stood down as a councillor and leader of the Labour group on the council Mark Pengelly has said:
“I believe the Reform leadership should remove the whip from Cllr Elgin and refer him to Standards for this to be fully investigated.’
The Green Party, which has eight councillors, issued a statement condemning his comments and suggesting a by-election should be called.
The Reform UK administration will appoint a new chairman later this month.
Northampton MP Mike Reader has launched a campaign calling for direct trains between the town and Universal’s new theme park in Bedford.
The Labour MP for Northampton South, raised the issue in the House of Commons yesterday during oral questions on transport and asked for a commitment to secure connectivity into the county.
He said he has now secured a meeting with Lord Hendy, the Rail Minister, to make the case for the connection directly. The government has confirmed there are currently no plans to include Northampton when East West Rail passenger services launch, despite the line already being used for freight trains through Northampton Gateway.
In a statement provided to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the MP said:
“One of the biggest theme parks in Europe is being built on our doorstep, and right now the plan is for Northampton to miss out on the opportunity this brings. I don’t accept that.
“The track is already there. Freight trains run on this line to Northampton Gateway every week. All that’s missing is the commitment to let local people use it, so families here can hop on a train to Universal rather than sitting in traffic.
“And this is about far more than days out. The same connection would open up jobs in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Oxford, connecting the Ox-Cam Growth Corridor by rail, and give Northampton a better route towards Luton Airport. Universal itself will create thousands of jobs, and our residents should be able to get to them.
“The Minister told me there are no plans for Northampton. That’s the wrong answer, and I’m campaigning to change it. I’ve secured a meeting with the Rail Minister, and I won’t stop until Northampton is on the map.”
At the moment, rail users would need to change trains at Bletchley to access East West Rail and travel on routes between Oxford and Cambridge.
West Northants Council (WNC) has said it has been part of a group which is advocating the development of East West Rail to provide better connectivity across the region and allow for a West Coast Main Line train to change onto East West Rail without passengers needing to swap platforms.
Earlier this week, WNC approved its new Rail Action Plan alongside a suite of other active travel strategies, which sets out a practical framework for delivering improvements over the next five years.
At a cabinet meeting discussing the strategy, WNC’s executive director of place and economy, Stuart Timmiss, said the task for the council was making sure to “maximise the opportunities” for the area through East West Rail. He also said the authority was “talking to government at the highest levels” to make sure that happens.
According to the council reports, proposed journey times from Northampton to Oxford with East West Rail would drop from an existing 84 minutes commute to 65 minutes, and journey times to Cambridge would be cut in half from 173 minutes to 81 minutes by rail.
Currently, West Northamptonshire is served by three railway stations in Northampton, Long Buckby, and Kings Sutton.
By Nadia Lincoln
A solar farm on farmland near Rushden Lakes has been approved at appeal, after further investigation was demanded on how the scheme would affect the habitat of protected birds.
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) failed to issue a decision on time for proposals for a 20-hectare solar development on land to the east of Ditchford Road, between Wellingborough and Irthlingborough. Applicant Innova Renewables Development Ltd took NNC to appeal over its indecisiveness in November last year.
A decision notice, published by the government’s planning inspectorate this month, stated that the outstanding issue when the appeal was lodged was the effect of the proposal on Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area, which provides resting and feeding areas for over 20,000 wintering waterbirds.
The appeal site is located within 100 metres of the protection area and has the potential to be ‘functionally linked land’ (FLL), which may be used by species such as lapwing and golden plover and is critical for foraging and roosting. Further wintering bird surveys undertaken at the start of 2026 reaffirmed previous survey results from 2024 and 2025, with no protected birds having been recorded at any point.
The inspector concluded that the site does not represent FLL, with both Natural England and the council’s ecologist confirming they were satisfied with the results.
He also dismissed other representations from interested parties regarding concerns around the visual and landscape impacts of the solar project due to the site’s proximity to the large retail and leisure development at Rushden Lakes and the adjacent sewage works.
Planning permission for the solar site has been granted.
A condition to ensure an environment management plan is in place before construction, so the works do not disturb the nearby designated sites, was applied by the inspector. The site will also be limited to a temporary period of 40-years from the date of the first export of electricity under the permissions.
An accompanying application for costs against NNC over ‘unnecessary expense’ from having to go through the appeals process was denied.
By Nadia Lincoln
NN Events
🎺 The annual Kettfest is on tomorrow. Live music starts at the market square from midday and continues until 10pm.
If councils regularly "overspend" on the same budget areas year after year there is not a problem of "overspending" there is a problem that the budget is being deliberately set too low for political reasons or in order the fix a balanced budget when they know it won't balance. Either way it is deceitful and dishonest. The councils auditors should be pointing this out in thrir report.
I just hope this timely report serves as a warning to voters of the shambles that would follow a Reform government in Westminster! A general election is looking more and more likely sooner rather than later.