South Kesteven District Councillors express ‘regret’ about aspects of Lincolnshire devolution deal proposal

The deal was provisionally agreed between the Government and the local authorities of Lincolnshire County Council (LCC), North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC), and North Lincolnshire Council (NLC).

However, a motion agreed at Thursday’s Extraordinary Meeting of the Council forms part of SKDC’s response to the consultation exercise and implementation process.

Council Leader Coun Richard Cleaver told the meeting: “This is an important issue because it is something that affects the future of all of us in Lincolnshire.

"We have debated this on a number of occasions, it has been mentioned on a number of occasions and written about a lot. We have all seen the papers giving the full details of the Government’s offer of the devolution deal, as well as the joint response of LCC and the two unitary bodies to that deal which is now out to public consultation.”

The public are invited to have their say by completing the short survey on the Let’s Talk Lincolnshire website.

South Kesteven District Council supported the proposed motion to:

• Note that “live” public consultation events are taking place at Wake House, Bourne 11.30am-2.30pm on Monday January 15, at The William Cecil Hotel, Stamford 2pm – 5pm on Tuesday January 16, and at the Jubilee Life Centre in Grantham 3pm-7pm on Thursday January 18.

• Express regret that there will not be a permanent seat on the Combined Mayoral Authority for an SKDC-appointed representative

• Consider it inappropriate that the devolution proposal including the establishment of a directly elected mayor for Greater Lincolnshire will not be subject to approval by a local referendum

• Regret that the consultation currently underway does not include a direct question about whether the county should have an elected mayor

• Consider that the sums of money offered to the Combined Mayoral Authority are not only too small to meet the county’s needs but also too small to justify the establishment of an additional tier of local government

• Regret that SKDC & LCC may be deprived of opportunities to bid for funds from central government schemes as only the Mayor may be entitled to submit bids from Lincolnshire in future

• Resolve to raise awareness of the consultation and encourage the residents of South Kesteven to consider the points above when deciding how to respond to the consultation