i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed the Council and whilst the summer period had generally been quiet, with the Chairman having attended a few events, one which he wished to draw to the Chamber’s attention was his attendance at Aegir Special School in Gainsborough, for the premiere of short film made, produced and staring the students, something made possible via the grant funding from West Lindsey.
A media company had worked with their children to produce a fantastic short film and it had been really quite impressive to see the children that were involved in the process and the hard work they undertaken. The end result had been a really high-quality production, and Members were encouraged to take the time to have a look.
The Chairman also highlighted that the BBC Radio 4 “Any Question” programme was going to be held at Gainsborough Old Hall on Friday the 22nd of September starting at 8.00pm Tickets were available to be an audience member. It was pleasing to see an event at Gainsborough, that would garner national coverage, which was good for both the town and the Old Hall.
Leader
Having only just taken office the newly elected Leader advised Council that she would be starting her first round of meetings the next day including the District Joint Committee, District Leaders and Chief Executive meetings and meetings associated with MCCA, alongside the Chief Executive. She also had a number of briefings scheduled over the coming weeks to ensure that she was fully abreast of all matters and fully aware of the needs of West Lindsey to enable her to fulfil her duties to the best of her ability when representing the Authority at meetings.
Head of Paid Service
The Interim Head of Paid Service addressed Council opening his announcements by acknowledging the evening’s meeting marked a significant reset for the Council, not only politically but organisationally.
Remarking on the main focus being on serving our communities and the businesses that we host in the District the best we can. To do this effectively, relationships needed to be strong, council business needed to be conducted in the right spirit with mutual respect and the right values and behaviours permeating through everything the Council did.
He spoke of the talented, committed, and passionate people, Members and Officers alike, within the Council and how uniting these assets would ensure West Lindsey became even stronger in its endeavours to deliver the best possible services and outcomes to its communities.
Since the last Council as evidenced by the meeting’s agenda significant advances, not only in political arrangements for the Council, but also in organisational change that had commenced in the background, preparation for refocusing of the Council's priorities, and also enabling the organisation to be more efficient and effective in its decision -making internally, responding to the national Corporate Peer Challenge undertaken in January 2025.
Most importantly, the Council had continued to deliver for the communities and the Head of Paid Service outlined just a few of the key initiatives and programmes that had been delivered over the summer period over and above the business as usual.
The community grants programme 2025/26 continued to go from strength to strength. With a total of 19 grant awards made to projects across West Lindsey. Almost £200,000 had been awarded to projects such as new speed indicator devices, play park improvements, community events and community building works.
The Council had also successfully applied for school games funding from Sport England to deliver the Winter School Games programme. The programme would be delivered in partnership with local partners, national governing bodies and community organisations.
The Council would also be working with secondary schools to deliver the leadership opportunities for local young people to inspire the next generation.
As part of the Council’s community defibrillator scheme, over the summer an additional 15 facilities at new locations across the District had been installed, bringing the total in West Lindsey to 125. Defibrillators supplied by the Council had been deployed eight times in the past year, helping saving lives across this district.
Gainsborough’s Trinity Arts Centre had been shortlisted as a finalist in the APSE award for best service team, sport, leisure and culture earlier this summer, building on the Council’s finalist status at the Destination Lincolnshire awards earlier in the year. The Council had narrowly missed out on £5m funding from the Arts Council for improvements to the Centre, however the work stood the Council in good stead to secure future external funding bids.
Marking a significant milestone in the regeneration of Gainsborough, the official opening of the Savoy Cinema had been in July, the public realm enhancements to the Market Square completed, and the handover of the beautifully transformed cafe on Whitten Gardens along the riverside.
The third annual Gainsborough Wordfest was due to take place in the town centre on Saturday the 13th, open to residents from across the District. The exciting event was a wide celebration of creativity and storytelling, with a rich programme of free activities across multiple themes, inviting visitors of all ages to explore the written word in a variety of imaginative and engaging ways.
Officers from the Enforcement and Customer Services teams had been attending various venues during the last month across the District, including Sudbrooke, Caistor, Scotter, Upton and Lea, to discuss local concerns with local residents. It had also provided teams the opportunity to highlight the work that they were undertaking across the District in tackling fly tipping, dog fouling and antisocial behaviour.
The Council had also been undertaking some key consultation and engagements exercises over the summer, one around the budget consultation and LGR due to end on the 15 September; one on the Local council tax support scheme, with consultation having ended 6 September; and the Car Parking Strategy due to end 6 October.
The Interim Head of Paid Service referred to the serious incident over the bank holiday weekend, at a property in Waddingham, and at which Officers from the Council had helped with the response. The nature of the incident was outlined along with the work undertaken by various teams across the Council in responding to the incident, including the setting up of rest centres for families dispersed from their accommodation. Officers were continuing to work with Police as part as part of the tactical joint working with partners.
The Head of Paid Service placed on record his thanks to all those Officers associated with all the initiatives mentioned through his announcements with particular thanks expressed to Grant White and his colleagues for the incident response in Waddingham.
Confirmation had been received last week that the Council had received an award of over £5m, on behalf of all central Lincolnshire authorities. West Lindsey’s share would support households across the district to insulate their homes for the winter.
With the new Chief Executive, assuming post on 29 September, Mr Cullen outlined the working relationship established to date and the hand over arrangements. Finally, in light of this being his last Council meeting, the Interim Head of Paid Service took the opportunity to express his thanks for the incredible support he had been given by staff and Members since arriving. He spoke of pleasure and privilege at having worked with such passionate, talented, and committed people, which had enabled him to move some key areas forward at a pace as demonstrated by the evening’s agenda.