Corby

For other uses, see Corby (disambiguation).

Borough of Corby
—  Town & Borough  —
Corby town centre skyline, seen from Oakley Woods
Borough of Corby shown within Northamptonshire
Coordinates: 52°29′29″N 0°41′47″W / 52.4914°N 0.69645°W / 52.4914; -0.69645
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Non-metropolitan county	Northamptonshire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Corby
Incorporated
Government
- Type	Non-metropolitan district council
- Borough council	Corby Borough Council (Labour)
- Mayor	Gail McDade
- MPs	Louise Mensch (Conservative)
Population (2010 est.)
- Total	55,800
- Rank	314th (of 326)
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
- Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Postcodes	NN17-NN18
Area code(s)	01536
ONS code	34UB
OS grid reference	SP897887
Website	corby.gov.uk

Corby Town is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure. Figures released in March 2010 revealed that Corby has the fastest growing population in both Northamptonshire and the whole of England. The Borough of Corby borders onto the Borough of Kettering, the District of East Northamptonshire, the District of Harborough and the unitary authority county of Rutland. The town was at one time known locally as "Little Scotland" due to the large number of Scottish migrant workers who came to Corby for its steelworks.

Borough settlements

The Borough of Corby consists of the town of Corby, as well as the villages of Weldon, Rockingham, Gretton, Cottingham, Middleton, East Carlton, Stanion, and Little Stanion.

History

Early history

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.^[1] The first evidence of permanent settlement comes from 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 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)^[2] and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia.^[3] A popular legend 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 the charter. The next pole fair is to be held in 2022.

From rural village to industrial town

The local area has been worked for iron ore since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in 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 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 was at that point that Corby was re-designated an urban district (see the Local Government section below).

The 1940s and 1950s

During World War II 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 the intentional burning of oil and latex to hide the glowing Bessemer converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews.^[4] 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 Maddison's Bar and Storm nightclub). Nobody really knows the exact circumstances under which the attack occurred, but a local apocryphal tale tells of a lone pilot making his way back to Germany after a successful raid on Coventry who spotted some lights so decided to finish off his already depleted stock of bullets. Sadly, the authenticity of this romanticised tale can neither be verified or denied, but it is certainly the most popular theory among locals. The Corby steelworks made a notable contribution to the war effort by manufacturing the steel tubes used in Operation Pluto (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to supply fuel to Allied forces on the European continent.

By 1950 the population of the town stood at 18,000. In that year Corby was designated a new town and the town underwent its second wave of expansion, mainly from Scotland, which resulted in a car-friendly layout with many areas of open space and woodland.

The decline of the steel industry

Sundew dragline excavator was a local landmark

In 1967 the British steel industry was nationalised and the Stewarts & Lloyds steel tube works at Corby became part of British Steel. In 1973 the government approved a strategy of consolidating steel making 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. Thus in 1975 the government agreed a programme that would lead to the phasing-out of steel making in Corby.^[5] In November 1979 the end of iron and steel making in Corby was formally announced. 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%.^[6][7] Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales.

Redevelopment

Corby's CCGT power station

New industry was subsequently attracted to the town and by 1991 unemployment had returned to the national average.^[8] 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 an Enterprise Zone, the promotion of Corby by the 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 the EU.^{[citation needed][9]}

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.

Politics

Corby constituency

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 national government in every general election since the creation of the constituency in 1983. In the 2005 General Election, Labour won Corby by a majority of just over 1,000. At the 2010 General Election, the sitting Labour MP Phil Hope lost this seat to Louise Bagshawe, the Conservative Party candidate, who is now Louise Mensch after her marriage. Corby Borough Council has been controlled by the Labour party since 1979. In 2007 the council had 16 Labour representatives, eight Conservatives and five Liberal Democrats.

Elections

Borough of Corby

• Corby Borough Council Elections 2007
• European Parliament Elections 2004 (East Midlands Constituency)
• United Kingdom General Election 2005 (Corby Constituency)

Society and culture

Scottish migration to Corby has created a unique population in the borough, evidenced most clearly in the 'Corby accent', referred to as 'Corbyite', which is often described as sounding Glaswegian. 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 a further third of the population are Scottish or of Scottish descent.^[10]

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 is home to the largest Rangers Supporters' Club outside of Glasgow and Northern Ireland). Many shops sell Scottish foods and a supermarket even introduced Gaelic signs^[11] to their Corby store (but they have since removed them). An annual Highland Gathering featuring traditional Scottish music and dancing is held in the town. Corby is the only town in England apart from London with two Church of Scotland churches.^[12]

Corby's boating lake

The song Steeltown by Big Country (title track of the album) was written about the town of Corby, telling how many Scots went to work there, but found themselves unemployed when the steelworks declined. (Source: Melody Maker, 1984)

According to the 2001 Census 1.7% of 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).

Transport

Roads

The town is located along the A43, A427, A6003 and is six miles 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 is different to 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.

Buses

Corby rail-link bus

Corby is served by six bus routes under the Corby Star brand name.^[13] The route X4 connects the town with Northampton, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and is also operated by Stagecoach^[14] and Glasgow by National Express. Plans to build a new bus station in Corby are being considered by the council following the closure of the old bus station in August 2002.

Rail

Work begins on the railway station in March 2008

Corby used to be described as the largest town in the UK not to have a railway station, or access within five miles of one - many other towns and localities claim this dubious honour (e.g. Gosport, Dudley, Newcastle under Lyme) but all of these places have locally available railway stations in adjacent suburban areas. Previously the nearest station was seven miles south in Kettering since the closure of the original station under the Beeching Axe in April 1966. The Kettering-Corby-Melton Mowbray section remained open for freight and through passenger trains, passing through the 1,920 yard (1,756 metre) Corby Tunnel and crossing the River Welland on the colossal 82-arch Welland Viaduct.

Corby railway station opened on 23 February 2009

The newly built station opened on 23 February 2009. East Midlands Trains runs hourly services to London St Pancras International via Kettering and Wellingborough. There is also a limited peak time service running north to Oakham and Melton Mowbray.^[15] It was later agreed that the 'Corby Rail Bus', the X1 service between Corby and Kettering operated by Stagecoach, would be kept running after the opening of the new station – though passenger numbers will be monitored and if they fall off significantly then the service may be reduced or terminated. Train services had been due to start on 14 December 2008, but EMT admitted that it failed to secure the four new trains it needed. An article in Corby's local newspaper stated that the service would be starting on 23 February 2009.^[16][17]

Employment and education

Employment

Since the 1980s the unemployment rate has returned to a level closer to the national average (2.7% in October 2005).^[18] 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 the regional average of 25.9%).^[19] Much of industry is concentrated in purpose-built industrial estates on the outskirts of the town. Fairline Boats are manufactured here. Weetabix Limited make Weetos in the north of the town. RS Components are based near Rockingham Speedway.

Demographics

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.^[20] The borough of Corby has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the East Midlands, outside of the metropolitan boroughs (unitary authorities), although Lincoln is very similar.

Schools

Brooke Weston Academy

The Corby campus of Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education provides a range of vocational courses for post-16 students and adult learners. The nearest universities are the University of Northampton, 37 km (23 mi) to the south and both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University in Leicester, 40 km (25 mi) to the west.

Brooke Weston College, was one of only fifteen CTCs in England, opened in 1990. Brooke Weston CTC consistently achieved examination results in the top 5% of English state schools, and has been a City Academy since September 2008^[21] after which it continued with those good results.

Lodge Park Technology College on Shetland Way

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 four secondary schools in Corby: Brooke Weston Academy, Lodge Park Technology College, Corby Business Academy (formerly Corby Community College) and The Kingswood School (A Specialist Arts College). Corby Community College 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.

Regeneration and redevelopment

Corby has an Urban Regeneration Company - North Northants Development Company, which now covers 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 the next 30 years through housing on large estates such as Prior's Hall, Little Stanion, Oakley Vale and Great Oakley.

In October 2007 Corby's new shopping precinct, Willow Place, opened.^[22] In addition Parkland Gateway, the Borough's £50m investment situated adjacent to Willow Place and including a new Olympic-sized swimming pool and civic hub (due for completion in November 2010), is being built following its approval in January 2007. Work began on the project in October 2007 and the Corby East Midlands International Pool was officially opened by Olympian Mark Foster in July 2009. Although the Evolution Corby project is currently on hold, limited aesthetic augmentation work within the town centre continues.

Stephen Fry has previously been employed to do the voice-over work for a campaign running in London to entice people to move to Corby. The campaign is centred around advertisements in newspapers, on the London Underground and on local radio. An example of one of the posters in the 'More for your Money' campaign (photographed on the London Underground). A new campaign to persuade Londoners to move to North Northamptonshire, dubbed 'North Londonshire', is due to launch in the coming weeks.

Toxic waste contamination

Main article: Corby toxic waste case

In July 2009 Corby Borough Council was found liable for negligently exposing pregnant women to toxic waste during the reclamation of the former British Steel steelworks, causing birth defects to their children.^[23] The judge found in favour of 16 of the 18 claimants, the oldest of whom was 22 at the time of the ruling. The ruling was significant as it was the first in the world to find that airborne pollution could cause such birth defects.^[24][25]

The ruling was delivered by Mr. Justice Akenhead at London's High Court of Justice on 29 July 2009, and concluded that there was a "statistically significant" cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999. It found that there were present on the Corby Borough Council sites, over the whole period from 1985 (and possibly before) until 1997, the types of contaminants which could cause the birth defects affecting the hands and feet which the complainants had suffered. The judge ruled that Corby Borough Council was "extensively negligent in its control and management of the sites which they acquired from British Steel... [leading to] extensive dispersal of contaminated mud and dust over public areas of Corby and into and over private homes, with the result that the contaminants could realistically have caused the types of birth defects of which complaint has been made by the claimants."^[26] Some of those affected have missing or underdeveloped fingers and three have deformities on their feet.^[27] The group's counsel, David Wilby QC, asserted "that the disabilities were caused early on in their foetal development when their mothers ingested or inhaled an 'atmospheric soup of toxic materials' from the redevelopment."^[28] Following the judgment, Mr Wilby said: "The defendant has throughout strenuously denied any fault and relied heavily on its expert witnesses to justify its conduct. However, without exception, the judge preferred the evidence of the expert witnesses called by the claimants."

Following the ruling, Corby Borough Council said: "The judge concluded that this contamination affected pregnant women. A child, so affected, has 21 years from birth to make a claim and thus any work since the late 1980s which has not met the standard of care indicated in this judgment could be challenged in this way. For both local authorities and developers alike this is a significant concern because the standard of care has been drawn very highly, and could cause a rethink of the way that reclamation is carried out in the UK, even though the facts of the case are historic."^[29]

The case put forward by the complainants asserted that council contractors employed to clean up the sites had little expertise in dealing with toxic waste. The claimants' solicitor said "There can be little doubt that this job was handled appallingly badly even by the standards of the '80s and '90s. Time and again it has been shown that the council officers responsible for this work simply didn't have a clue what they were doing. They had no expertise in dealing with toxic waste."^[30] On 16 April 2010 the council released a joint statement with the families' solicitors announcing it had agreed a financial settlement with 19 families.^[31] Chris Mallender said: "The council recognises that it made mistakes in its clean-up of the former British Steel site years ago and extends its deepest sympathy to the children and their families. Although I accept that money cannot properly compensate these young people for their disabilities and for all that they have suffered to date and their problems in the future, the council sincerely hopes that this apology coupled with today's agreement will mean that they can now put their legal battle behind them and proceed with their lives with a greater degree of financial certainty."^[32]

Geography

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles and Northamptonshire, Corby experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Metoffice weather station for which online records are available is Caldecott, about 3 miles north-north west of Corby town centre and in the Welland valley on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border. Observations have now ceased, and the nearest operational weather station is Wittering, some 13 miles to the north east. The exact situation of the weather station at Caldecott is at 53m and in a valley location, meaning generally higher daytime temperatures than Corby itself (at 100-130m altitude) but also higher frost averages. Caldecott is in fact frostier than the frost hollow at Shawbury (70.2 frost days vs. 64 frost days at Shawbury), where England's lowest December temperature was recorded. However, given temperatures between the 1961-90 period (displayed below) and 1971-2000 period have typically increased by 0.5 to 0.7 Celsius, offset by the fall in temperature of a similar value between the 53m of the weather station and the 120 metres or so of Corby town centre, the figures should provide accurate representation (in daytime values at least) of the town proper for the 1971-2000 period.

The lowest temperature recorded was −23.3 °C (−9.9 °F) during January 1987,^[33] the highest temperature of 35.0 °C (95.0 °F) was recorded in August 1990.^[34]

Climate data for Caldecott 1961-1990 (Weather station 3 miles (5 km) to the North of Corby)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	6.1 (43.0)	6.5 (43.7)	9.4 (48.9)	12.2 (54.0)	16.0 (60.8)	19.2 (66.6)	21.2 (70.2)	20.9 (69.6)	18.4 (65.1)	14.4 (57.9)	9.4 (48.9)	7.0 (44.6)	13.3
Average low °C (°F)	0.1 (32.2)	0.1 (32.2)	1.3 (34.3)	2.9 (37.2)	5.6 (42.1)	8.5 (47.3)	10.4 (50.7)	10.3 (50.5)	8.4 (47.1)	5.8 (42.4)	2.5 (36.5)	0.8 (33.4)	4.7
Precipitation mm (inches)	52 (2.05)	40 (1.57)	48 (1.89)	48 (1.89)	47 (1.85)	48 (1.89)	45 (1.77)	58 (2.28)	46 (1.81)	46 (1.81)	52 (2.05)	56 (2.2)	586 (23.07)
Sunshine hours	46.2	58.0	97.5	126.6	174.2	180.6	175.7	168.0	129.8	96.4	59.5	41.1	1,353.6
Source: Met Office[35]

References

Rockingham Motor Speedway

1. ^ An Archaeological Resource Assessment of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Northamptonshire
2. ^ Corby Borough Council - The History of Corby
3. ^ Corby Pole Fair Charter
4. ^ Memories of the Second World War
5. ^ History of British Steel
6. ^ Memorandum by Corby Borough Council (NT 50)
7. ^ The State of the Regions, Local Government Information Unit
8. ^ Corby Northamptonshire through time - Historical Statistics on Work and Poverty
9. ^ [1] Corby is already recognised as a prime location for distribution and logistics
10. ^ The English town that's truly Scottish
11. ^ Gaelic welcome in store
12. ^ Church of Scotland - Presbytery of England
13. ^ Stagecoach Northants: Corby Star network Accessed 9 April 2010
14. ^ Stagecoach X4 Accessed 9 April 2010
15. ^ New Service to run north to Oakham
16. ^ Corby article
17. ^ Corby train delays labelled 'shambolic'
18. ^ Geographical Statistical Information - Unemployment
19. ^ Geographical Statistical Information
20. ^ Census 2001
21. ^ Full list of academies
22. ^ Mayor declares Willow Place officially open
23. ^ Williams, Rachel. Council found liable for children's exposure to toxic waste . 29 July 2009. Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
24. ^ Sherwood, Bob. Corby toxins ruling could spark further claims. 29 July 2009. Financial Times. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
25. ^ Gammell, Caroline. Corby birth defects: worst child poisoning case since thalidomide. 29 July 2009. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
26. ^ Corby toxic waste case: Judge rules there was a "statiscally significant" cluster of bitrh defects . 29 July 2009. Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
27. ^ Families win birth defect battle . 29 July 2009. BBC News. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
28. ^ Toxic defect link a 'delusion' . 17 February 2009. BBC News. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
29. ^ Corby Toxic Waste Case: Corby Council reaction. 29 July 2009. Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
30. ^ McBeth, Colette. The battle for birth defects answers . 29 July 2009. BBC News.
31. ^ Adams, Stephen (2010-04-17). "Council to pay out 'millions' to birth defect children". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7598590/Council-to-pay-out-millions-to-birth-defect-children.html. Retrieved 2010-04-17. 
32. ^ Quinn, Ben (2010-04-16). "Poisoned children win compensation fight against Corby borough council". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/16/corby-steelwords-compensation-fight. Retrieved 2010-04-17. 
33. ^ "1987 cold". TA Harley British Weather. http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley/coldest_days.htm. 
34. ^ "1990 Heatwave". Greenpeace. http://archive.greenpeace.org/climate/database/records/zgpz0697.html. 
35. ^ "Caldecott 1961-90 averages". Met Office. http://replay.web.archive.org/20010210223621/http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/sites/18.html. Retrieved 11 may 2011. 

External links

Phoenix Parkway with the power station in the distance

• More in Corby - place marketing site
• Corby Borough Council
• North Northants Development Company
• Local news
• Corby Radio
• BBC website about Corby
• The English town that's truly Scottish (Scotsman.com)
• WonderWorld, Corby, UK on h2g2
• Corby Crater website
• Corby Satellite map and weather
• Rockingham Racetrack
• Corby Skyscrapers!
• Corby pictures and information
• Corby Northern Orbital Road

Northamptonshire portal