i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Chief Executive
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed Council, advising it had been a quiet start to civic year for her. It had been and honour and privilege to attend the unveiling of the memorial and trail to honour the Polish forces that were based in our part of the county at Witham St Hugh’s. Along with other Councillors, the Chairman had undertaken a behind the scenes tour of the Council’s relatively new crematorium at Lea Fields.
The Jubilee weekend had seen the District come alive and the Chairman had had the pleasure of attending several events to mark the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee, including the lighting of a beacon at Lincoln castle.
Finally she drew Members’ attention to the Celebration of Life Service which would be held on Sunday 31st July at Market Rasen for former Councillors Malcom Parish, Lewis Strange and Reg Shore and all those who had lost relatives during Covid, and to which all Councillors had been invited.
In concluding her announcements, it was with sadness that the Chairman advised the Chamber of the passing of former Councillors Mr Motley Brant who had served in the region of 21 years and John Indian, former Councillor for the Yarborough ward.
In response to a question from the floor, it was confirmed that “loyal greetings” had been issued from the Civic Office, to HM The Queen, on the occasion of her Jubilee. A report was due at the Prosperous Communities over the summer, outlining all the activities which had taken place across the District.
Leader
The Leader made the following address to Council: -
“Thank you Chairman,
The final formal public consultation period on the Proposed Submission draft of the new Central Lincolnshire Local Plan (Regulation 19) closed on Monday 9 May. An encouraging spread of representations was received from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, with at least one comment relating to each of the policies. All of the documentation, once collated, will be forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate as a further step towards an Examination in Public that we trust will be arranged for later this year, with the favoured location for it being a venue in Lincoln city centre.
Huge thanks go to residents for their participation in and support for the recent introduction of the separate collection of paper and cardboard, the new purple-lidded bin service. This economically and environmentally important initiative has also resulted in a measurable and significant improvement in the quality of the mixed dry recyclables, the items collected in the blue bins.
It was especially pleasing to see West Lindsey communities of all sizes organising events in celebration of HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last month and on behalf of the Council I’d like to thank the dedicated community volunteers that made these memorable occasions happen. The diverse nature and number of applications to the Platinum Jubilee Community Fund made it one of our most popular funding offers to date. Huge thanks are also due to all those Members, Officers and partners alike that delivered such a successful presence for our District as part of this year’s Lincolnshire Show, especially given the context of a constrained planning timescale.
I was delighted that the District Council’s Senior Management Team was short listed in their category in the MJ Awards (Municipal Journal) last month, fully reflecting their outstanding and ongoing contribution to the success of ‘Team West Lindsey’. Congratulations and sincere thanks are due collectively and to each and every one of them.
The ten upper-tier Councils in Lincolnshire have been working together to respond to the opportunities for devolved decision-making made available through the Government’s ambitious Levelling Up White Paper. This signifies a resetting of the relationship between central and local government, giving councils more power to deliver effectively on behalf of the areas and communities they serve. Please be assured that discussions are ongoing to further develop our case, proposals and especially, vision, in order to present a compelling case that will enable our county to enter into dialogue with the Department (DLUHC) at the earliest possible opportunity.
I’m delighted that West Lindsey District Council has been awarded £2.7m of funding spread over three years (up to March 2025) as part of the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This is intrinsically linked to the delivery of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda and is subject to the approval by the Department (DLUHC), during this summer, of an Investment Plan Development Proposal. The UKSPF Prospectus states ‘Places will be empowered to identify and build on their own strengths and needs at a local level, focused on pride of place and increasing life chances’.
In his speech to the Local Government Association Conference last Tuesday, The Right Honourable Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, promised to give local authorities greater financial certainty including through a two-year financial settlement from next year, a reduction in the number of funding streams and a reduction in the burdens placed on local government. Whilst we await the detail these proposals are clearly greatly to be welcomed in principle. The full speech is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/local-government-association-annual-conference-2022-secretary-of-states-speech
Thank you again Chairman.”
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive addressed Council and was pleased to advise that from 1 June, the Management Team restructure agreed at Chief Officer Employment Committee, had been fully implemented. A summary of the changes had been included in latest issue of the Members’ Newsletter.
The Chief Executive further advised of a visit he had undertook in May, when he had visited Stockport to learn about their approach to Heritage Regeneration. He ensured there would be benefit from the learning as the Council implemented schemes across West Lindsey.
It had been a really successful Lincolnshire Show, the first in three years not held on-line. He paid thanks all those Members that attended the Show and supported the team with their “Meet the Councillor” sessions.
Members were advised that Management Team, on 24 June had attended the MJ Awards, having been shortlisted for Senior Team of the year. Unfortunately, whilst not winning the Chief Executive spoke of his proudness of the Team at having been shortlisted.
Finally, the previous week had seen the annual LGA Conference held, at which both the Leader and Chief Executive had been present. Key Note speeches were received from Government Ministers and Shadow Ministers which had been most interesting and would help inform the Council’s approach to future service plans.
This concluded announcements for the meeting.