i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed the Council, referencing briefly some of the events with which he had been involved and attended since Council last met which had included both the Christmas and New Year period.
Firstly, referencing the Civic Carol Service, he had held on 8 December in Market Rasen, which had been well supported by the local community and enjoyed by all. In the run up to Christmas the Chairman had also visited the various departments across the Authority to thank staff for the work they had undertaken over the year, including staff at the Arts Centre, Depot and Crematorium, as well as an invitation to the Authority’s Middle Management Meeting (WMT) to discuss the highlights and achievements of 2023.
Other events attended in the Christmas period had included a Christmas Lunch in Market Rasen, hosted by the Jockey Club, during which the Chairman presented the second donation of the year of £14,000 from the recycled metals from the Crematorium. This was a marvellous scheme which sought to support bereavement charities in the local areas.
Whilst it had been a sad occasion, it had also been an honour and privilege to attend the funeral of the serving Mayor of Gainsborough and former District Councillor Tim Davies. It had been uplifting to hear the many fantastic stories of his work in the local community and the impact he had on others.
On Christmas Day the Chairman had been present at the Christmas Day lunch held in Gainsborough, hosted by volunteers for those considered vulnerable.
On behalf of the Leader, the Chairman had visited the Grammar School in Gainsborough, to attend an awards evening, it had been lovely to celebrate the successes of the young people.
Finally, the Chairman took the opportunity to thank all the staff of West Lindsey for the tremendous work that they had done during the incredible number of storms that the District had seen. The Community spirit and willingness to help one another, regardless of the hour or conditions, was something to be applauded.
Leader
The Leader made the following address to Council: -
“I have three items to report to Council, and I will try and keep my announcements brief, first of all, the Local Government Finance Settlement for West Lindsey District Council has been met with disappointment and concern. The allocation of funds from Central Government to the Council is woefully inadequate, leaving the District struggling to meet the needs of its constituents, one of the main issues which this settlement fails to take into account, is the unique challenges faced by rural areas like West Lindsey.
The Council is responsible for providing essential services such as waste management, housing services in a vast geographical area with dispersed population centres, however, the funding provided does not adequately reflect on these demands. Inadequate funding, means more and more local government authorities are struggling to meet the demands and challenges to deliver local services. This poor financial settlement also puts additional pressure on their already stretched council resources. Staffing levels have been reduced to the minimum, a poor funding settlement means that there is limited capacity for investment in economic development initiatives that could stimulate growth and job creation in the area.
The Conservative Government’s deliberate attempt to starve rural councils of desperately needed cash, has detrimental effects on both residents' quality of life and the overall development of the District, it's crucial that Central Government recognises these challenges and provides adequate funding to ensure that the essential services can be maintained effectively in rural areas like West Lindsey.
In the recent weeks, as Leader I've written to our local MP and I await the decision from the Minister of the Local Government requesting a better deal for West Lindsey District Council.
My second item is devolution. The three upper tier councils are now undertaking consultation with the residents of Greater Lincolnshire to get their views before deciding whether to submit a proposal to Government in its current form. Guarantees from the onset of the proposal were given that devolution would have absolutely no impact on the delivery of the seven district councils within Lincolnshire. However, it was extremely disappointing that at last week's Greater Lincolnshire Leaders' meeting to hear that the Government are already seeking agreement for local government reorganisation, as part of the deal.
Local government reorganisation would have an impact on residents massively and hundreds of local jobs would be put at risk. Can this Government be trusted with a devolution deal? Clearly, this is an attempt to dissolve the powers of local democracy and get rid of local district councils through the back door, I'll leave it at that for now, chairman, because I realise that we've got a paper on that this evening.
My third update relates to Scampton. The fight against the Conservative Government's unjust decision to house the asylum seekers at RAF Scampton continues. The former World War site, which saved the nation nearly 80 years ago.
As a Council, following the outcome of the judicial review, we have filed an appeal against the court decision, and we continue doing the right thing. Fighting on behalf of the local communities we represent and trying to save the £300 million investment deal for the site in the next few weeks.
It will be critical on how our talks with the government develop and we will try and keep Members updated as regularly as we possibly can over that period, thank you, Chairman.”
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive addressed Council and opened with recording his thanks for the emergency response teams, who once again had been out at weekends ensuring that the residents and communities were supported during storm Henk over the weekend of the 6 and 7 of January. Particular thanks were expressed to Mr Selby who had worked five weekends over the last eight weeks as a result of the ongoing storms – a supposed once in a 100 year event!
The Chief Executive was pleased to announce that from next week the Authority would be offering business recovery grants, for businesses that were affected by the storms, further information would be distributed by the Growth Team in coming days. The funding being made available was from central government, who had also determined the criteria for qualification.
As referenced by the Leader, in November the Officers had attended the Judicial Review hearing of the Authority’s case against the Home Office with regards to Scampton. Unusually in the judgement, Mrs Justice Thornton, did give us permission for the Council to appeal against the judgment. The decision to appeal had been taken by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee 19 December, Members would be updated as matters progressed.
Finally it was with delight, that the Chief Executive advised the Chamber that the Waste Team had once again won the best performer, in the category of waste refuse collection at the APSE awards in December, noting this to be the second year in a row. A massive well done to the whole team was extended for their achievement.
Thanking the Chief Executive for his announcements, and in response to the information about a further business grant scheme being due to open, the Chairman took the opportunity to highlight the amounts of flooding grants paid to date: -
The Council had paid 122 community recovery grants of £500 per household who suffered internal flooding to their properties, and five £2,500 business support grants.
These grants were available to people who have suffered internal flood damage to their homes or businesses during Storm Babet or Storm Henk.
This brought announcements to a conclusion.