Editing Northampton (section)

=== Contemporary ===
Following [[World War I]], the shoe industry was increasingly in decline, despite the town's factories supplying over 23 million pairs of boots to the armed forces.<ref name=andrewmartin /> A total of 1,700 men from the town were lost of the 6,000 killed from the [[Northamptonshire Regiment]].<ref name=andrewmartin /> The town expanded further during the 1920s and saw the erection of [[Northampton Power Station]], which supplied electricity to areas as far away as [[Wolverton]], until its closure in 1975. Much council housing was also built largely to the east, north and south of the town, including [[Abington, Northamptonshire|Abington]], [[Far Cotton]], Kingsley, [[Kingsthorpe]] and [[Dallington, Northamptonshire|Dallington]] – areas which had been incorporated within the borough's boundaries in 1901.<ref name=andrewmartin /> However, the population growth slowed down as people moved beyond its boundaries. In 1901, the population had expanded to 90,923; in 1931, the population was 92,341.<ref name=andrewmartin />

[[File:NptonPop.GIF|left]]
After [[World War II]], Northampton vastly changed. In 1959, the [[M1 motorway]] was opened to the south-west of the town; in 1968, Northampton was designated a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|New Town]]. Both these events and the rail link helped Northampton's growth as a [[commuter town]] for London.<ref name=andrewmartin /> The Northampton Development Corporation (NDC) was set up in 1968 to substantially redevelop the town in partnership with the local council, spending £205&nbsp;million to build new housing and industrial estates, initially in Lumbertubs, Moulton Park and Round Spinney to the east, followed by Briar Hill, Camp Hill and East and [[West Hunsbury]] in the south of the town, mainly to accommodate the overflow population of new residents from the London area.<ref name=andrewmartin /><ref name="bbcndc">{{cite news |date=3 February 2015 |title=Fifty years since a plan that transformed Northampton |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-31110173}}</ref> In the town centre, older buildings were demolished and replaced or redeveloped for other buildings, including the former [[Northampton Greyfriars bus station|Greyfriars bus station]], the [[Grosvenor Centre]], Peacock Place (now Market Walk), shops, flats and hotels.<ref name=andrewmartin />

Although growth was slower than planned, the population grew from 105,421 in 1961 to 157,217 by 1981,<ref name=andrewmartin /> with 15,655 new homes added to the town between 1970 and 1985.<ref name="bbcndc" /> The borough boundaries also changed following a split of the [[Northampton parliamentary constituency]] into [[Northampton North (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton North]] and [[Northampton South (UK Parliament constituency)|Northampton South]] in 1974. Northampton was reconstituted as a [[non-metropolitan district]] which also covered areas outside the former borough boundaries but inside the designated New Town. The town tried for [[Unitary authority|unitary status]] during the [[1990s UK local government reform]], but failed and it remained a non-metropolitan district until its abolition in 2021. On [[Good Friday]] 1998, Northampton suffered severe flooding, particularly in the areas of Far Cotton and St James; two people were killed and thousands of homes were affected.

Since the turn of the Millennium, the town has continued to expand. Northampton applied for [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, in 2002 to celebrate the [[Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II]] and most recently in 2022 to celebrate the [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II]], but failed on all three occasions and remains a town.<ref name="MillenniumLeakAngers">{{cite news |date=7 March 2000 |title=Millennium city leak angers bookies |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/669580.stm |access-date=15 October 2008}}</ref><ref name="MillenniumWinnersNamed">{{cite news |date=18 December 2000 |title=City winners named |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1074434.stm |access-date=15 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Five new cities creates row |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1872577.stm |website=BBC News|date=14 March 2002 }}</ref> In 2006, Northampton became a government expansion zone with new growth promoted by [[West Northamptonshire Development Corporation]] (WNDC), an unelected [[quango]], which has provoked a series of regeneration schemes across the town. Some have been completed, including the opening of the [[Radlands (skatepark)|Radlands]] Plaza Skatepark and the development of Becket's Park Marina just south of Northampton's town centre, as well as the improvement of the town's Market Square, the building of the new North Gate bus station, the rebuilding of the railway station, the designation of a Cultural Quarter, the building of a new Council headquarters, the restoration of Delapré Abbey, the expansion of [[Northampton Museum]], the resiting and rebuilding of the university on one new campus in town centre and the renovation of both the Grosvenor Shopping Centre and Weston Favell Centre.<ref name="WNDC">[http://www.wndc.co.uk/ West Northamptonshire Development Corporation website]. Wndc.co.uk. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.</ref> In 2015, St Giles Street in the town centre was named the "Best British High Street" in a national competition run by the [[Department for Communities and Local Government]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Northampton's St Giles Street wins high street of the year in national competition |url=http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/northampton-s-st-giles-street-wins-high-street-of-the-year-in-national-competition-1-7092537 |newspaper=[[Northampton Chronicle and Echo]] |access-date=16 February 2016 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203204608/http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/northampton-s-st-giles-street-wins-high-street-of-the-year-in-national-competition-1-7092537 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2024 the market square was excavated and redesigned.