i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed Council and advised of her pleasure at having been invited to attend the presentation of a young man, at Gainsborough’s Nobel Foods, who despite challenges, had been awarded the Young Processer of the Year Award. It had been most pleasant to join him and to share his successes and achievements.
On 31 July the District Council had held, what the Chairman considered to have been a wonderful service, for the Celebration of Life for three former Councillors, Malcolm Parish Lewis Strange and Reg Shore, having been unable to celebrate during the Covid period. It had provided opportunity to honour those Councillors and the work they had done during their time in Office. It had been a lovely service and the families had been very appreciative of it.
Last Friday, 2 September, the Chairman had had the honour of hosting the Annual Flag Raising for Merchant Navy Day. It had been a lovely day and well attended. Members were reminded that again, this Friday, 9 September, she would be hosting the Annual Flag Raising event for the Emergency Services Day, to which all Members were invited to attend.
And finally, earlier in the day, the Chairman had attended the historical Closing Down Ceremony at RAF Scampton. As anticipated, there had been a large turnout of both Military and Dignitary guests, a flypast by the Red Arrows and the Lancaster, and a Service in the Church to dedicate a new stained-glass window to RAF Scampton, marking 100 years of having been stationed there. It had been an honour and a privilege to represent West Lindsey at this historic event.
Leader
The Leader made the following address to Council: -
“Good evening colleagues, I hope that everyone had the opportunity to spend some time away from their desks and digital devices during August and can return refreshed and ready for what will undoubtedly be an especially busy period for us individually and collectively.
Since we last came together as a Council we have experienced not only record high temperatures in July, but also exceptional rainfall in August that lead to serious flooding in Market Rasen and caused problems elsewhere in the District too. I’d like to place on record my deep appreciation and thanks to everyone who contributed to the immediate and ongoing response and also to encourage any community that does not have an Emergency Plan in place to consider preparing one. There is much support available for this task through the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum.
The Council’s budget consultation for the 2023-24 financial year will remain open until at 9 am on Monday, 3rd October 2022 and all residents and businesses are invited to have their say in helping us shape our future priorities. It is easy to participate either on on-line, by a paper copy, or at one of the series of widely publicised engagement events, the most recent of which was a highly successful session on Caistor Market last Saturday. Thank you to all respondents so far; your ideas and input are most valuable to us.
Finally, I’m very pleased to advise that our key priorities and projects throughout West Lindsey, whether in preparation or delivery, are all progressing according to schedule. We have a highly ambitious and stretching programme in place to secure the future prosperity and success of our District and I firmly believe we have all the necessary Member and Officer expertise and insight available to enable us to achieve this.”
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive addressed Council and whilst acknowledging it had been “holiday season” for many, he paid tribute to the many teams across the Council that had continued to deliver over the summer period; handling the Council Tax Energy Rebates, and the Housing Support Fund distribution, (of which a third allocation was anticipated). Teams across West Lindsey continued to deliver, under the additional pressures that continued to be placed upon District Councils, and again the Chief Executive praised and thanked everyone in the Organisation for their energy and commitment to supporting the District and its’ residents.
The Chief Executive highlighted some of the other issues that had been dealt with and developments since the last Council meeting, including: -
· Concurrent Meeting – 7 July
A concurrent meeting of the Prosperous Communities Committee and the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee, had been held to agree the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plan. The Chief Executive was pleased to advise that the Plan had been submitted on the 19 July, a fortnight ahead of the deadline set Government and the Plan had been well received by the Government’s teams. Thanks were expressed to Sally Grindrod-Smith, Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities, and her Team for their work in this area.
· Recent Funding Announcements
Two further funding announcements had been made since Council last met. West Lindsey had been awarded an allocation of £85k for what was being termed, the “Levelling Up Parks Fund”. This was restricted to just three Lower Super Output Areas, all three of which were in Gainsborough. The Fund was for enhancing green space in such areas. Proposals would be brought forward for Elected Member consideration in the coming months.
West Lindsey had also received an allocation from the Rural England Prosperity Fund of £795k. This was an extension of the Shared Prosperity Fund, specifically for rural parts of the country. Investments Plans would need to be formulated and proposals would be brought forward for Elected Member consideration.
· Cost of Living Crisis
Referring to the Motion passed at the last Council meeting, the Chief Executive updated Members on the work that had been undertaken since, and of further planned work.
A Cost of Living Working Group, of Officers within the Council, had been established. The Group had been working on proposals, which could be brought for Member consideration in the future. Whilst these proposal would look at ways of supporting residents, proposals were also being considered regarding employees, as they too would be equally impacted by the cost of living issues.
Officers were also working on what had been phrased “a Cost of Living Summit”. The District Council were inviting local organisations, who dealt with some of the Districts most vulnerable and in need, to come together in order that Organisations could share ideas to develop proposals, as to how, and what, might be appropriate ways of utilising some Council reserves, as requested in that Motion.
The work was well in progress and outcomes were expected to be reported back to Committees in October/November 2022.
· Update on Gypsy/ Traveller Encampment – Bridge Street Gainsborough
Members were aware that over the Summer, Officers had dealt with a short stay Traveller encampment on the Bridge Street Car Park, in Gainsborough. Officers were again thanked for their response to that incident, arriving on scene the very next morning. Appropriate policies were followed, appropriate notices given and having established a good relationship, the encampment moved on, in accordance with the plans they had indicated to Officers at the outset. The approach taken by Officers, who were again thanked, ensured that the stay, had gone ahead without any issues.
The Chief Executive placed on record his thanks to local businesses who had kindly agreed to open for longer than normal to help and support those people, which again had enabled the stay to pass off without incident.
· Flooding at Market Rasen
August 16 had seen flooding experienced in parts of Market Rasen. The Chief Executive placed on record his personal thank you to Councillor Bunney for his work supporting people in the area.
The incident had not been declared an emergency by the LRF (Lincolnshire Resilience Forum) and this had seen communication issues arise with colleagues in other organisations.
West Lindsey Teams, including Sarah Elvin, Home Options Team Manger and her colleagues were thanked for their actions and their support at very short notice. Officers continued to show commitment to help people across the district, whatever the hour, whatever the situation.
The communication issues experienced had been discussed with the LRF. Whilst acknowledging it had not been designated a Lincolnshire Emergency, it was still paramount that communications were maintained and remained in a co-ordinated manner, which the District Council did not consider had been the case with this incident.
Announcements concluded.