The council is the largest parish level authority in England by population served.

It was created to eliminate the need for charter trustees and to ensure Northampton had a representative body, following the abolition of the former Northampton Borough Council, which was merged into the larger unitary authority West Northamptonshire Council, following local government changes in Northamptonshire.

[3] The council initially took responsibility for cemeteries, allotments and the mayoralty, and also the running of civic events like festivals, Remembrance Sunday and Armed Forces Day.

[4] In 2021 it launched two schemes for distributing grants to local community groups and charities, from an annual budget of £125,000.

[5] In 2022 it launched an additional grant scheme with a budget of £50,000, for environmental projects to help address climate change.