Corby estates get chair for £20m regeneration
By the Beehive Web regional news desk
A £20 million, 10-year regeneration programme for three Corby neighbourhoods now has its first named leader, with lifelong resident Alex Bonner appointed to chair the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter Neighbourhood Board.
The board will oversee how the Government’s Pride in Place programme is turned into a local regeneration plan for the estates. No spending decisions have been announced yet, and the rest of the board has still to be chosen.
Bonner’s appointment matters because the chair will help decide who sits around the table before the money is allocated. The board is expected to work with the local MP, councillors, community representatives, partner organisations, businesses and residents before setting priorities for the next decade.
£20 million over 10 years for three Corby estates
The Pride in Place programme will bring £20 million of investment to Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter over a 10-year period. The funding is intended to support a shared long-term vision for the area, with a regeneration plan setting out which priorities should be funded.
The source announcement does not list projects, budgets by estate, deadlines for applications or a timetable for the first decisions. That means residents should treat the chair appointment as the start of the local governance process, not as confirmation of individual schemes.
Similar Pride in Place work is also running elsewhere in North Northamptonshire, including Avondale Grange in Kettering and Queensway in Wellingborough. Beehive Web has also reported on the £20 million Queensway investment in Wellingborough, another neighbourhood board-led programme with a 10-year remit.
Alex Bonner brings school and estate links to the role
Alex Bonner was born and raised in Corby and has lived on the Exeter estate for 24 years. She has worked with young people for more than three decades, including 17 years at Kingswood Secondary Academy.
She currently teaches English at the school and sits on its senior leadership team. That background gives the new chair direct links to education, young people and one of the neighbourhoods covered by the programme.
The chair role was open to people who live or work in North Northamptonshire and have strong connections to Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter. According to the council announcement, the chair’s responsibilities include community engagement, transparent governance and helping to co-create the 10-year Pride in Place vision and regeneration plan.
The role also includes keeping a longer legacy in view after the programme ends. For residents, that test will be practical: whether the board’s decisions lead to changes that can be seen and used in the estates, not only written into strategy papers.
The next step is building the neighbourhood board
The remaining members of the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter Neighbourhood Board have not yet been selected. The next step is for Bonner, as chair, to choose fellow board members.
That process will shape how residents, public bodies, community groups and local businesses are represented when priorities are discussed. The board will then be responsible for developing the regeneration plan that determines how the Pride in Place funding is spent.
What changes now:
- Corby’s Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter programme now has a named chair.
- The £20 million funding covers a 10-year period, not an immediate single-year spend.
- No individual projects or allocations have been confirmed in the source announcement.
- Board membership is still pending, and that will influence how local priorities are tested.
The appointment puts the programme into its next phase: forming the board that will decide how residents’ priorities are gathered, weighed and written into the regeneration plan.
Source: North Northamptonshire Council
Source check Source trail
This article is based on North Northamptonshire Council’s announcement of the chair appointment and the stated scope of the Pride in Place programme.
- Confirmed Alex Bonner was named chair of the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter Neighbourhoo...
- Checked the stated funding figure of £20 million over 10 years.
- Separated confirmed governance steps from unannounced future spending decisions.
- Verified that similar Pride in Place schemes were named for Kettering and Wellingborough.
- Source
- North Northamptonshire Council
- Scope
- Corby
- Updated
- 2026-05-27 17:26
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