2025 local elections: Focus on Brackley

Voters in West Northamptonshire will be heading to the polls on 1 May to elect members to the area's unitary authority.

Like its neighbour North Northamptonshire, the council was created in 2021 following a local government reorganisation, replacing the old county council and several district councils.

The historic market town of Brackley sits in the south of the county on the borders of both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

It is 22 miles (35km) south-west of Northampton, where West Northamptonshire Council is based.

Voters will decide who fills the 76 seats on the authority, currently run by the Conservatives, including three councillors for Brackley.

The town currently has two Conservatives and one Labour councillor.

What issues are important to people living here?

Robert Nixon, 26, only moved to the town in the last year. He lives in a brand new home, but for the last eight months has been unable to get fixed-line broadband installed.

Mr Nixon, a teacher, says he has been quoted an estimated £100,000.

"It is an essential service that my home should have been connected to from day one," he says.

It is not the only connection Mr Nixon feels the town lacks.

"There is no bank in Brackley and nowhere to access council services in person without going to Towcester," he says.

Mr Nixon says he will be voting in the local elections but has yet to decide who for.

Kathryn Walker, 48, lives with her family in the village of King's Sutton and says the main issue for her is "accessibility".

She does not drive and says she can only get to Brackley if her husband drives, or by taxi.

"Our medical centre is in Brackley. I've got two young children. There used to be a bus route but they took it out quite a few years ago," she says.

Ms Walker's daughter has special educational needs.

"All the services that are offered by West Northamptonshire Council we can't easily access. We're just stuck, in a way. It makes you feel quite isolated," she says.

"We're paying our taxes towards Northamptonshire, but we can't access those services. There's just a real lack of provision in terms of transport."

James Newman, 44, runs Jem Stationers, just off the town's historic market square.

He took over the business from his father, who ran it from 1998.

For Mr Newman, the big issue is attracting people into the town.

"Footfall is down the past year and when customers come in, they apologise that they haven't been in as regularly because there's not as much to draw people into town," he says.

"Since the banks have closed in the town, people go to Banbury or Northampton.

"Getting a bank hub would help but [so would] finding the owners of the empty properties and attracting new businesses to make people want to come in."

Jenny Rose, 38, lives in the town with her husband and three children and says most of her family live nearby.

She grew up in Brackley before moving away and returning recently.

The town, she says, has changed a lot. "It felt like you walked down the street and knew everyone but it doesn't feel like that now," she says.

Her main concern, she says, is the town's expansion, with many new houses but a lack of supporting infrastructure.

Southfield Primary Academy in the town shut last July because there was not enough demand for places.

"Other schools in the area are going to be getting temporary classrooms because there aren't enough [school] places now, she says.

Josh Beckett, 34, lives in Brackley and works in plastic injection moulding in nearby Banbury.

For him, the attitude to young people and the lack of facilities for them in the town is an issue.

But he says the skate park that opened last year is a good thing, and something that he and his friends pushed for when they were younger.

"We used to have a couple of youth clubs but they went and we need things for younger people," he says.

He says he will vote but has not decided which way.

Neil Bowmar-Scothern, 78, says things have changed a lot since he returned to live in the town in 2022.

"Brackley is like a lot of small market towns. Having grown exponentially, some of the facilities have expanded with it," he says.

The main issue he would like addressed is the poor state of roads and pavements.

"My little cul-de-sac where I live is poor. The road's got a very large rough bit in the middle, and the pavement's now got a lump in it from a tree root, and I tripped on it."

He says he has received his poll card and is likely to vote, but is not totally sure.

"Undecided, that's me," he says.

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.