Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town  and parish councils. The county council has 78 elected councillors.

Northampton is administered by both Northampton Borough Council, run from May 2007 for the first time by the Liberal Democrats, and also Northamptonshire County Council. From 2005 the latter has been controlled by the Conservative Party. The Borough Council runs services such as housing, waste collection and smaller planning items in the Borough. The County Council looks after social services, education and libraries in the whole county. Since April 2006 major planning decisions such as large housing schemes and new roads have been the responsibility of the WNDC.