County leader sets out possible North-South split under government's reorganisation plans

Although nothing has been confirmed, Coun Martin Hill (Conservative) suggested that Greater Lincolnshire could be split into separate north and south unitary authorities in the near future.

With the divide possibly ‘somewhere across the middle’, the Conservative leader stressed the need for flexibility, particularly as government criteria require district councils to be used as ‘building blocks’.

He said: “Let’s say Lincoln is in South Lincolnshire and West Lindsey in North Lincolnshire—that would mean some of the peripheral villages like Nettleham and Saxilby would not be in the same council area.”

In December, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner set out plans to introduce a directly elected mayor for every region and abolish all two-tier council areas in England, ending the situation where county and district councils coexist.

Coun Hill, alongside leaders from North and North East Lincolnshire Council, signed a letter to Mrs Rayner, stating their interest in being involved in the government’s priority Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme and their hope that the proposal to create two unitary authorities for Greater Lincolnshire would gain support. However, the area was not selected for an immediate change.

Following a special meeting on Wednesday (February 19), North East Lincolnshire Council decided to write to the government stating that it does not endorse the letter’s contents. Leader Phillip Jackson admitted he should have consulted with group leaders and given them an opportunity to speak to their groups before signing the letter.

The government has invited councils to put forward proposals for reorganisation by March 21, and the leader of Lincolnshire County Council warned that if they do not submit one, central government will decide how the region is divided.

He explained: “The government has made it clear that they have a timescale within this parliament that they want the whole country to go unitary.

“Government has also made it clear what the criteria are and that is minimum 500,000 population, not to cross mayoral combined authority boundaries, try to minimise disruption to services and use district boundaries as building blocks.

“If you look at those criteria together, the population of Greater Lincolnshire is 1.1 million, the minimum size of unitary being 500,000 – we’ve got to have more than one council. So, inevitably that leads to two unitary councils in Lincolnshire.

“If you’re going to mess about and put a proposal in for Great Grimsby, let’s say, it’s going to fail because you haven’t read the criteria. You’ve got to be pragmatic here.

“If we don’t put anything in, some civil servant will decide what they think is best for Lincolnshire. I’d rather we decide what we think is best.”

County elections are taking place on Thursday, May 1.