Financial failure and corporate intervention at Northamptonshire County Council: a sorry saga but not a surprise

This paper examines the recent financial and corporate delivery history at Northamptonshire County Council. Drawing on institutional isomorphism, it demonstrates long-term inadequacies in the governance and management of the council and weaknesses in its collaborative working with key partners including the district councils in Northamptonshire. These contributed to the government’s subsequent decision to reorganise local government across Northamptonshire and helps explain why this radical intervention in local democracy uniquely generated comparatively little public or political opposition.