i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Chief Executive
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman started his announcements advising that Civic commitments for obvious reasons had been limited. He was hopeful for more positive times ahead due to the successful vaccine rollout. Both the Chairman and his Lady had now received their vaccine and the Chairman spoke of the amazing organisation and efficiency he had witnessed at the vaccination centre and of his admiration for the volunteer Marshalls standing out in all weathers to ensure everything ran smoothly. He encouraged everyone to take up the offer of their vaccine.
The Chairman spoke of his delight at working with his fellow ward councillors to produce the first Ward Newsletter. He congratulated the Communications team for their excellent work. The publication had focussed on community spirit within the ward. It was appreciated that this was indicative of the marvellous ways in which communities across the district had come together over the last twelve difficult months. The Chairman expressed sincere thanks to all the District’s residents for their fantastic and continued response to these challenging times.
Leader
The Leader made the following address to Council: -
“I very much welcome the publication by the Cabinet Office last week of the ‘COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021’ guidance, setting out the roadmap out of the current lockdown for England. This is made possible by the notable success of the vaccination programme to date, with over 20m doses delivered nationally up to the end of February, mirrored here in Lincolnshire by more than 200,000 doses up to 14th February.
From a West Lindsey perspective this provides considerable clarity in helping form the delivery of our leading role in support of the recovery from the pandemic through the Council’s core competencies, especially in our business, community and health and well-being service areas. It remains vitally important though that, individually and collectively, we continue to follow the rules set out in the interests of everyone.
In January we were pleased to welcome Graham Biggs, the Chief Executive of the Rural Services Network, as one of the guest speakers at our Member Strategy Event. Mr Biggs outlined the development of RSN’s Revitalising Rural: Realising the Vision campaign and the rationale and thinking behind it, including a focus on why it is of such importance to rural areas in general and West Lindsey in particular. I can advise that the campaign was officially launched this morning.
Last week I was privileged to join the Big Conversation virtual conference, most ably organised and promoted by the Lincolnshire Youth Commission. Young people gave some really valuable insight into the five priority themes affecting their lives and their views on how improvement could be delivered through partnership working with organisations in all sectors of society. The Lincolnshire Youth Commission was instigated by our Police and Crime Commissioner and I very much look forward to continued engagement with them.
I have accepted an invitation to chair a workshop session at a national conference on Friday entitled ‘Post Covid Recovery: Planning, Places and Building Back Better’ and next month, alongside Mr Selby, to present at a national seminar on Cemeteries and Crematoria.
Finally Chairman, whilst we should never underestimate what we have achieved so far as a Council during a time of unprecedented challenge and change, much remains to be done and will be done on behalf of those we represent. My heartfelt thanks go to each and every one of you, to our colleagues in local government and to all of our partners in the community.”
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive addressed Council, and started his announcements by formally thanking Alan Robinson , Director of Corporate Services and Monitoring Officer for all his support to him personally over the last seven years and to the Council over the last 17 years. He expressed his personal well wishes to him in his new role at South Kesteven.
The Chief Executive was pleased to advise members that the Council had been successful with its bid to the Salix fund having been awarded £68k to support Solar Panels and battery storage in the new depot. The Council had also been successful with a joint bid, alongside other district councils, to support the development of our Local Heritage List.
Thanks were expressed to those members who took part in the Strategy Event on the 29th January. Formal feedback was being sought, and those Members who had attended were encouraged to respond.
Members were advised that the Council had now paid out a total of £24.9m to businesses during the Covid period. The second payment for this current lockdown has already been paid within West Lindsey. In terms of the vaccination roll out, Lincolnshire had made really good progress and continued to do so.