i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed Council indicating he wished to use his announcements this evening to “recognise one of those that make outstanding contributions to our communities - above and beyond” - something he had sought to do throughout his term of office.
He again welcomed Mrs Katie Barry, Headteacher of St George's School in Gainsborough, who was due to shortly to finish her position with school. The Chairman read aloud to the Chamber the achievements of Mrs Barry.
“Mrs Barry who has served as Headteacher of St George's since 2006. For nearly 20 years Katie has led the school with exceptional dedication, compassion and unwavering commitment to its pupils, staff and wider community. Under her leadership the school has achieved an excellent Ofsted outcome, reflecting a clear vision and the strong team she has championed throughout her tenure. Beyond the school gates, Katie has made a profound difference to local families, establishing food banks, securing vital grants and ensuring that no child or parent in need went unsupported. Her impact on education and on the well -being of our community has been truly remarkable and her legacy will endure for many years to come. It is a privilege to present her with a certificate and recognition of her outstanding service”
The Chairman then presented Mrs Barry with a certificate and flowers and Members showed their appreciation with a round of applause with several paying their own tributes to Mrs Barry.
Mrs Barry in return expressed her thanks, paid tribute to her wider team at the School and spoke of the honour and privilege it had been to serve the Gainsborough community, its young people both of which she was very proud of.
With a further round of applause, Mrs Barry left the meeting and announcements continued.
The Chairman firstly reminded Members that they could make recommendations to the civic team for any “above and beyond- community recognition” awards, before outlining some of the events he had had the privilege to attend.
Events highlighted were the Lincolnshire Construction and Property Awards alongside Officer and teams from Gelder’s and the Savoy, as the cinema project had been nominated for an award, receiving a special recognition award for the building. Operators had also reported the cinema continued to be busy and well used which was pleasing.
The second event being the Council led Illuminate Event, at which the Chairman had had the honour of leading the parade. He spoke of his delight and seeing so many people engaged in the event and about during the event. He also thanked all those involved in hosting and preparing the event, including the school workshops, stewarding and pre- planning activities, acknowledging the key role many volunteers played on the day. He asked that a formal thank you, from him on behalf of all Members be sent to those Officers involved.
Leader of the Council
The Leader of the Council made the following address to Council: -
“Since the last Full council I have been able to attend a number of meetings and events on our collective behalf. Without doubt, the only event I can possibly start with tonight is the wonderful Illuminate Festival which filled central Gainsborough with happy people, colourful costumes, a lively projection on the Old Hall and a spectacular Fire Garden. We owe significant thanks to the Officers who generously gave of their time and effort to support this event, with particular praise going to Cara Markham and her team for their dedication and imagination.
I drove to Humberside Airport to attend the inaugural meeting of Transport for Greater Lincolnshire, run by the Mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns. This gave me the opportunity to discuss local and county transport issues with other Councils, with representatives from County-wide transport companies and representatives from the Department for Transport. This will be reported on when more information comes back to this Council.
The Deputy Leader and I have spent time this month looking in some detail at prominent buildings and other assets in and around Gainsborough and have held initial talks with people involved in running those assets, to see how best to rationalise and use them to best effect. This work is ongoing.
Along with Officers I regularly attend the District Joint Committee meetings, as well as the Transport and Education and Skills committees of the GLCCA. District Leaders update each other about all the GLCCA Committees so that we have a collective understanding of the progress of the new Combined Authority.
Three further delightful events came my way this month: The first was a trip to the Gelder site in Sturton where, amongst other things, I took a look at environmental initiatives and work being done with apprentices. Perhaps the best bit of that visit was seeing a group of small children having huge fun in the mud and rain before retreating to a tepee to eat their lunches with leaders from Wild in the Wood. I visited Gainsborough Academy to join pupils in an English class where they are studying a Steampunk novel. I took my costumes along and we had fun dressing up and taking photos, while learning about Steampunk and its association with the Victorian fantasy novel. I was also invited on our behalf to go along to a Rock Gospel event in Carholme Road, Lincoln, where I enjoyed a noisy, lively and friendly session of Gospel music.
All in all, Chairman, a very busy and enjoyable month”
Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service
In addressing the Chamber, the Chief Executive advised of two matters he wished to bring to Council’s attention. The first; Members were formally advised that the Government’s consultation on proposals for Local Government Re-organisation, across Greater Lincolnshire, had formally been launched on 5 February. Members had received a briefing on 11 February and Officers had also held a session for town and parish councils across the District.
As of early February a Greater Lincolnshire Local Government Reorganisation
website, shared across all local authorities in Lincolnshire, hosted by WLDC had been established and in the first few weeks there had been over 7,000 visits to that website. An Extraordinary Council meeting had been called to allow Members to debate the council's response to the Government consultation and would be held on Monday the 16 of March 2026.
The Chief Executive was also pleased to share that Cliff Dean, who led the ICT partnership across West Lindsey and North Kesteven District Councils, had been shortlisted for the Cyber Security Advocate and Educator of the Year at the Computing Security Excellence Award. The award recognised individuals who strengthened the national cyber community through leadership, collaboration, and the sharing of good practise. He and Members wished Cliff the best of luck at the Awards.