Teacher to lead £20m town regeneration project

A Northamptonshire teacher has been tasked with leading a £20m regeneration project in the area where she lives.

Alex Bonner has been appointed chair for the Kingswood, Hazel Leys and Exeter Neighbourhood Board in Corby, which will oversee how funding is spent from the government's Pride in Place programme over the next 10 years.

The lifelong Corby resident has lived in the Exeter estate for 24 years and currently teaches English at Kingswood Secondary Academy.

She said: "I'm immensely proud to have been chosen as chair of the board, which will oversee such a big investment into the heart of these neighbourhoods."

She said young people and schools would be "the driving force" of the project.

The position was open exclusively to people living or working in North Northamptonshire with strong links to the three Corby neighbourhoods.

As the chair, she will work with local councillors, businesses, residents and Corby and East Northamptonshire MP Lee Barron, to decide the focus of the investment.

Barron said: "I always made it clear that, having secured this funding, it was crucial that we thought outside the box when appointing somebody to deliver the project.

"The great thing about Alex is that she looks on this through the lens of this generation and future generations and understands the need to get the broadest involvement in this through the children, schools and community groups."

Similar programmes are running in Avondale Grange in Kettering and Queensway in Wellingborough.

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