Corby
Encyclopedia
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.
, Rockingham
, Gretton
, Cottingham
, Middleton
, East Carlton
, Stanion
, and Little Stanion.
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. 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) and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia. 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.
, 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 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. 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 Europe
an 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.
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. 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%. Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales.
, 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.
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.
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.
. 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.
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 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.
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).
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 is served by six bus routes under the Corby Star
brand name. The route X4 connects the town with Northampton
, Milton Keynes
, Peterborough
and is also operated by Stagecoach
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
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.
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
. 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.
are manufactured here. Weetabix Limited make Weetos
in the north of the town. RS Components
are based near Rockingham Speedway.
is very similar.
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 (24.9 mi) to the west.
Brooke Weston College
, was one of only fifteen CTC
s 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 after which it continued with those good results.
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 form
s 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.
and Great Oakley.
In October 2007 Corby's new shopping precinct, Willow Place, opened. 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.
steelworks, causing birth defects to their children. 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.
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." Some of those affected have missing or underdeveloped fingers and three have deformities on their feet. 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." 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."
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." On 16 April 2010 the council released a joint statement with the families' solicitors announcing it had agreed a financial settlement with 19 families. 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."
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 during January 1987, the highest temperature of 35 °C (95 °F) was recorded in August 1990.
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
located in the county of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
; 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
East Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Thrapston and Rushden, which is the largest town in the area...
, the District of Harborough
Harborough
Harborough is a local government district of Leicestershire, England, named after its main town, Market Harborough. Covering , the District is by far the largest of the eight district authorities in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter of the County....
and the unitary authority county of Rutland
Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
. The town was at one time known locally as "Little Scotland" due to the large number of Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
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 WeldonWeldon, Northamptonshire
Weldon is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire, two miles due east of the town centre of Corby. It is administered by Corby Borough Council; at the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 1,644 people....
, Rockingham
Rockingham, Northamptonshire
Rockingham is a village and civil parish in the Corby district of Northamptonshire, England. It is just north of Corby, close by the border with Leicestershire and Rutland, near to Great Easton and Caldecott...
, Gretton
Gretton, Northamptonshire
Gretton is a village in the English midlands county of Northamptonshire. It is in Rockingham Forest and overlooks the valley of the River Welland and the neighbouring county of Rutland. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,240 people.It is near the town of Corby and the...
, Cottingham
Cottingham, Northamptonshire
Cottingham is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire in the English midlands that can trace its history back to Roman times. Cotingeham is listed in the Domesday Book and is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is located north-west of the town of Corby and is administered as...
, Middleton
Middleton, Northamptonshire
Middleton is a village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire close to the county boundary with Leicestershire. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 328 people.-Geography:...
, East Carlton
East Carlton
East Carlton is a village and civil parish located in the county of Northamptonshire, on the beautiful Welland valley. It is only a few miles west of the town of Corby and is administered as part of the Corby Borough...
, Stanion
Stanion
Stanion is a village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire in England. At the time of 2001 census, the parish's population was 873 people....
, and Little Stanion.
Early history
MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
and Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
artefacts have been found in the area surrounding Corby and human remains dating to the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
were found in 1970 at Cowthick. The first evidence of permanent settlement comes from the 8th century when Danish
Danes
Danish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century...
invaders arrived and the settlement became known as "Kori's by" – Kori's settlement. The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 as "Corbei". Corby's emblem, the raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
, 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
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
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) and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia. A popular legend is that the Queen was hunting in Rockingham Forest
Rockingham Forest
Rockingham Forest is a former Mediæval royal hunting forest in the East Midlands region of England; most of which was in the county of Northamptonshire but also extended slightly into the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire .The forest originally stretched from Stamford down...
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
Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England.-Early days:...
.
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 & LloydsStewarts & Lloyds
Stewarts & Lloyds was a steel tube manufacturer with its headquarters based at Corby, Northamptonshire, England. The company was created in 1903 by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain, A. & J. Stewart & Menzies Ltd, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland and...
, 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
West of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)
West of Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
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
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
(see the Local Government section below).
The 1940s and 1950s
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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
Latex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
to hide the glowing Bessemer
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews. 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
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
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
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
tells of a lone pilot making his way back to Germany after a successful raid on Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
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)
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
to supply fuel to Allied forces on the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an continent.
By 1950 the population of the town stood at 18,000. In that year Corby was designated a new town
New towns in the United Kingdom
Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...
and the town underwent its second wave of expansion, mainly from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, which resulted in a car-friendly layout with many areas of open space and woodland.
The decline of the steel industry
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
and the Stewarts & Lloyds
Stewarts & Lloyds
Stewarts & Lloyds was a steel tube manufacturer with its headquarters based at Corby, Northamptonshire, England. The company was created in 1903 by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain, A. & J. Stewart & Menzies Ltd, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland and...
steel tube works at Corby became part of British Steel
British Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
. In 1973 the government approved a strategy of consolidating steel making in five main areas – South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...
, Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
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. 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
British Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
in Corby, and further cuts took the total loss to 11,000 jobs, leading to an unemployment rate of over 30%. Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales.
Redevelopment
New industry was subsequently attracted to the town and by 1991 unemployment had returned to the national average. The recovery of Corby was explained in 1990 by John RedwoodJohn Redwood
John Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
, 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.
To the north of Corby, on the industrial estates, is a 350MW power station
Corby Power Station
Corby Power Station is a 350 MWe gas-fired power station on Mitchell Road off Phoenix Parkway in the north-east of Corby in Northamptonshire...
built in 1994; and the Rockingham Motor Speedway
Rockingham Motor Speedway
Rockingham is the UK's most modern motorsport venue and Europe's fastest racing circuit, hosting corporate driving days, driver training, conferencing & exhibitions, vehicle manufacturing events, track days, testing, driving experiences and motorsport...
built in 2001.
Politics
The Corby constituency contains parts of traditionally Conservative East NorthamptonshireEast Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Thrapston and Rushden, which is the largest town in the area...
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
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, 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
- Corby Borough Council Elections 2007
- European Parliament Elections 2004 (East Midlands Constituency)East Midlands (European Parliament constituency)East Midlands is a constituency of the European Parliament. For 2009 it elects 5 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
- United Kingdom General Election 2005 (Corby Constituency)Corby (UK Parliament constituency)Corby is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system, and is currently a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives....
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 GlaswegianGlasgow patter
Glaswegian or The Glasgow Patter is a dialect spoken in and around Glasgow, Scotland. In addition to local West Mid Scots, the dialect has Highland English and Hiberno-English influences, owing to the speech of Highlanders and Irish people, who migrated in large numbers to the Glasgow area in the...
. The link with Scotland is a strong feature of the area: according to the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, 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
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It has been estimated that a further third of the population are Scottish or of Scottish descent.
The Scottish heritage is cherished by many inhabitants. There are Scottish social and sporting clubs and there are many fervent supporters of the Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
and Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
football clubs (indeed, Corby is home to the largest Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
Supporters' Club outside of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
). Many shops sell Scottish foods and a supermarket even introduced Gaelic signs 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
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
churches.
The song Steeltown
Steeltown
Steeltown is the second studio album by Scottish band Big Country. The album was recorded at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm with Steve Lillywhite producing. It was released on October 29, 1984, in the United States and 19 October 1984 in the UK. It was released on CD only in Germany, as well as...
by Big Country
Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...
(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
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
(38.6).
Transport
RoadsThe town is located along the A43
A43 road
The A43 is a primary route in the English Midlands, that runs from the M40 motorway near Ardley in Oxfordshire to Stamford in Lincolnshire. Through Northamptonshire it bypasses the towns of Northampton, Kettering and Corby which are the three principal destinations on the A43 route...
, A427
A427 road
The A427 road is a major road in the English Midlands. It connects the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough and the A6 with the Northamptonshire town of Oundle and the A605.-History:...
, A6003 and is six miles from the A14 at Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
.Corby lies within two hours’ drive of four international airports: Birmingham
Birmingham International Airport (UK)
Birmingham Airport , formerly Birmingham International Airport is an airport located east southeast of Birmingham city centre, at Bickenhill in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull within the West Midlands, England...
, Luton, Stansted
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
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
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
(the A6003). All other roads into the town are single carriageways.
Buses
Corby is served by six bus routes under the Corby Star
Stagecoach in Northants
Stagecoach Northants is the name for most bus routes operated by Stagecoach Midlands in Northamptonshire. The legal name for the company is United Counties Omnibus Company Ltd...
brand name. The route X4 connects the town with Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and is also operated by Stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
by National Express
National Express
National Express Coaches, more commonly known as National Express, is a brand and company, owned by the National Express Group, under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in Great Britain are operated,...
. 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
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, 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
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
since the closure of the original station under the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
in April 1966. The Kettering-Corby-Melton Mowbray section
Oakham to Kettering Line
The Oakham to Kettering Railway Line is a railway line in the East Midlands of England. For many years it was used for mainly for freight traffic, and as an important diversionary route for passenger trains travelling the Midland Main Line as well as for the occasional excursion.Recently, however,...
remained open for freight and through passenger trains, passing through the 1,920 yard (1,756 metre) Corby Tunnel and crossing the River Welland
River Welland
The River Welland is a river in the east of England, some long. It rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. For much of its length it forms the county boundary between...
on the colossal 82-arch Welland Viaduct.
Corby railway station
Corby railway station, owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains , serves the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, England. The current station, opened on 23 February 2009, replaces an earlier one dating from 1879 and first closed in 1966 .Plans for the current station, built on a...
opened on 23 February 2009. East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...
runs hourly services to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
St Pancras International
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
via Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
and Wellingborough
Wellingborough
Wellingborough is a market town and borough in Northamptonshire, England, situated some from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river's current flood plain...
. There is also a limited peak time service running north to Oakham
Oakham
-Oakham's horseshoes:Traditionally, members of royalty and peers of the realm who visited or passed through the town had to pay a forfeit in the form of a horseshoe...
and Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...
. 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.
Employment
Since the 1980s the unemployment rate has returned to a level closer to the national average (2.7% in October 2005). 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%). Much of industry is concentrated in purpose-built industrial estates on the outskirts of the town. Fairline BoatsFairline Boats
Fairline Boats Ltd are an English motor yacht builder, currently owned Better Capital and the RBS. Started in 1963 by Jack Newington, the company presently builds motor yachts in both its original Oundle base as well as Corby, Northamptonshire-History:...
are manufactured here. Weetabix Limited make Weetos
Weetos
Weetos is a brand of chocolate-flavoured breakfast cereal produced by William Nelson. The name comes from the fact that its primary ingredient is wheat and the cereal pieces are in O shapes , the same naming convention that is used on the company's flagship cereal Weetabix .The brand initially...
in the north of the town. RS Components
RS Components
RS Components, commonly known as RS, is a global, world leading industrial component distributor headquartered in Corby in the United Kingdom. It distributes to the United Kingdom, most of Europe and Asia and is part of the Electrocomponents group....
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. The borough of Corby has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the East Midlands, outside of the metropolitan boroughs (unitary authorities), although LincolnLincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
is very similar.
Schools
The Corby campus of Tresham Institute of Further and Higher EducationTresham Institute of Further and Higher Education
Tresham College of Further and Higher Education is a further education college in the East Midlands of England.-Admissions:...
provides a range of vocational courses for post-16 students and adult learners. The nearest universities are the University of Northampton
University of Northampton
The University of Northampton is a university in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.-History:In 1924, Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue, site of the current Avenue Campus. A new building for the college was formally opened by the then Duke and Duchess of York in 1932...
, 37 km (23 mi) to the south and both the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
and De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, 40 km (24.9 mi) to the west.
Brooke Weston College
Brooke Weston
Brooke Weston Academy is an Academy in Corby, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, teaching students from age 11 to 18. It has consistently placed very highly in GCSE league tables and has an above average value added score at Key Stage 4. The value added score for Key Stage 5 is below average...
, was one of only fifteen CTC
City Technology College
In England, a City Technology College is a state-funded all-ability secondary school that charges no fees but is independent of local authority control, being overseen directly by the Department for Education....
s 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
Academy (England)
In the education system of England, an academy is a school that is directly funded by central government and independent of control by local government in England. An academy may receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind...
since September 2008 after which it continued with those good results.
The Kingswood School
The Kingswood School is a state comprehensive school for boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 18 located in Corby, Northants. In 2008 Kingswood saw its highest GCSE pass rate at 54%...
(A Specialist Arts College). Corby Community College has a special unit for children with severe special educational needs. All four schools have sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
s for post-16 students.
Corby has 17 primary schools, of which two are Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
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 ValeOakley Vale
Oakley Vale is a housing development situated in the south west of Corby, England. The development was begun in 2001 by Cofton, and over 2000 houses have now been built...
and Great Oakley.
In October 2007 Corby's new shopping precinct, Willow Place, opened. 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
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
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
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
and on local radio. An example of one of the posters in the 'More for your Money' campaign (photographed on the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
). 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
In July 2009 Corby Borough Council was found liable for negligently exposing pregnant women to toxic waste during the reclamation of the former British SteelBritish Steel
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
steelworks, causing birth defects to their children. 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.
The ruling was delivered by Mr. Justice Akenhead at London's
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
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." Some of those affected have missing or underdeveloped fingers and three have deformities on their feet. 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." 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."
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." On 16 April 2010 the council released a joint statement with the families' solicitors announcing it had agreed a financial settlement with 19 families. 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."
Geography
Climate
As with the rest of the British IslesBritish Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
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
Caldecott, Rutland
Caldecott is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is located about four miles south of Uppingham and is the most southerly village in Rutland....
, about 3 miles north-north west of Corby town centre and in the Welland
Welland
-Places:* River Welland in the east of England* Welland, Worcestershire, a village in England* Welland River in Ontario, Canada, named after its English counterpart* Welland Canal, named after the Canadian river...
valley on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
border. Observations have now ceased, and the nearest operational weather station is Wittering
Wittering, Cambridgeshire
Wittering is a village in the Soke of Peterborough, now in Cambridgeshire formerly in Northamptonshire, in the east of England. The neighbouring land is predominantly arable farming and Forestry Commission respectively...
, 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
Shawbury
Shawbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. The village is north east of the town of Shrewsbury, north west of Telford and north west of London. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Drayton...
(70.2 frost days vs. 64 frost days at Shawbury), where England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
'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
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
, 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 during January 1987, the highest temperature of 35 °C (95 °F) was recorded in August 1990.
External links
- 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 h2g2H2g2h2g2 is a British-based collaborative online encyclopedia project engaged in the construction of, in its own words, "an unconventional guide to life, the universe, and everything", in the spirit of the fictional publication The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the science fiction comedy series...
- Corby Crater website
- Corby Satellite map and weather
- Rockingham Racetrack
- Corby Skyscrapers!
- Corby pictures and information
- Corby Northern Orbital Road