Corby is again stepping into the spotlight as the town has been shortlisted for the Property Week Town/City of the Year.

The news of the Town of the Year nomination comes in the same week as West Glebe Park’s nomination for The National Lottery Award and on the same day as Corby Borough Council’s SWAP initiative goes up for the MJ Award in London.

Corby Borough Council is urging residents to get behind the Borough and help us show that our small Borough has a big spirit that can beat off cities such as Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester.

Corby has stormed through to make it as one of the eight finalists in the Town/City of the Year Award and the winner will be announced at a ceremony on 15th July. The award aims to recognise the Town or City that the Property Industry thinks has done the most to regenerate and improve their city through innovation and partnerships.

Residents can vote for Corby by clicking here – it’s that simple!

Corby has been shortlisted due to work that has been done through Corby Borough Council and North Northants Development Company (NNDC) in changing the borough into a place ideal for companies and partners to invest.

Corby has come on leaps and bounds over the last 5 years and evidence of the confidence investors have in the borough is reflected through projects such as the opening of Corby’s new £8.3m train station, which has the potential to unlock an estimated £200m of commercial investment in the area, creating more than 1,200 retail and office jobs.

Also in March 2009 Bela Partnership – a joint venture between Bee Bee Developments and the Lagan Group was confirmed as the preferred developer for a new Enterprise Centre to be built in Corby. EMDA has pledged £6.5m towards the £8.3m cost of developing the 43,000 sq ft scheme. Northamptonshire Enterprise, Corby Borough Council and the European Regional Development Fund have put up the rest of the money.  The Corby Enterprise Centre will be built at Priors Hall, the urban extension to the north east of Corby.

Shopping has also taken a boost as Land Securities’ 175,000 sq ft Willow Place shopping centre, which opened in October 2007, signed up Primark as an anchor tenant in April 2008. The budget retailer operates a 48,000 sq ft store in the town and Land Securities has submitted a planning application for Corby Evolution to provide a further 450,000 sq ft town centre scheme.

From large development schemes such as Oakley Vale, Corby Borough Council has been able to fund the build of the Corby East Midlands International Pool which is opening next month on the Parkland Gateway site. Parkland Gateway also holds the new iconic Corby Cube building which is due to open in Spring 2010 and holds a new theatre, one stop shop and library. Parkland Gateway is being developed with the assistance of funding from The Homes and Communities Agency, East Midlands Development Agency, The Department of Local Government and assisted by NNDC.

Leader of Corby Borough Council, Cllr Pat Fawcett, said:

‘Corby is a completely different Borough from five years ago and the strength of our future is shown through the £2 billion plus investment we’ve already secured for the Borough.

‘The fact that we can still develop and have people investing in our town when the country is going through difficult economic times says a lot for Corby and this is just the beginning. We’ve set our sights on becoming a vibrant small city of 100,000 people by 2030 so there are still some exciting times ahead and it is great that we are being recognised for what we are achieving.

‘It would be great if we could beat off big cities in awards like this – we definitely deserve to! So I would ask residents to show how proud they are of their town and vote for Corby.’

Simon Evans, Chief Executive of NNDC, said:

‘Corby is the only town to make the shortlist, providing further evidence that people are taking notice of the huge progress the area has made in recent years.

‘Property Week is leading source of information for property investors and developers so it would be great to top the poll and stimulate further interest in the town’s regeneration.’

For more information please contact: Kimberley Fitzjohn, Corby Borough Council

Telephone: 01536 464022 Mobile: 07901 512702 Fax: 01536 464640

Email kim.fitzjohn@corby.gov.uk