Study Tour 2023: Newport Pagnell Town Council

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) annual study tour returned for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic to Newport Pagnell Town Council in Buckinghamshire between 27 and 28 June 2023.

The study tour was a unique opportunity to showcase why Newport Pagnell is one of England's most innovative towns. Cllr Paul Day, mayor of Newport Pagnell Town Council, and clerk Shar Roselman, led attendees on a tour of the council's flagship projects. These included Middleton Leisure Centre, the council-owned Youth Club and Willen Road Sports Ground, which they run with the town's football club. The council inspired the benefits of taking over devolved assets if given the opportunity and shared their approaches to dealing with contractors, leases and consulting the public.

"Newport Pagnell Town Council is about creating a sense of community in the town, not just about completing parish administrative processes," explained Cllr Day. This enthusiasm for the town and its residents was evident across the two days.

Newport Pagnell is home to the oldest working iron bridge in the country. It was mentioned in The Domesday Book, published in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. It boasts over 100 listed buildings, with many of the town's hotels and public houses founded as coaching inns in past centuries. Oliver Cromwell had an affinity for the town, fighting alongside the troops and sending his son to join the young conscripts there. Vellum producers William Cowley are in the town, the only firm of its kind in the country and one of only four producers of vellum in the world. They have provided parchment paper for numerous royal occasions. The town also became the home of Aston Martin when English industrialist Sir David Brown moved the company there in 1954.

The study tour was sponsored by BHIB Councils Insurance, Blachere Illumination and CCLA.