West Lindsey: Councillors urged to help drive growth and investment

Transferring or delegating powers from central government to local authorities could help the area get a better deal for its residents and businesses.

Leader of the Council, Coun Jeff Summers explained Lincs County Council is no longer pursuing a unitary authority.

He explained talks had started with county, districts and the South Humber unitary authorities to explore other options.

He said: “We recognise there is a need for growth and investment in the district, but we cannot do this alone.

“We need to focus on what would benefit Greater Lincolnshire’s residents and businesses and build a collective voice and relationship across all councils.

“We need to work with each other to establish strong relationships and a collective ambition for devolution to be viable.

“I feel we are best placed to shape those decisions, but we need to act now and put forward our business case.”

The council will be asked to set aside £100,000 of its budget to work with partners to develop this as well as allocating officer and political resources.

Local authorities are encouraged to develop local deals, following the success of the Greater Manchester Deal.

Other areas are now following suit in Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Derbyshire.

Councillors will be asked that the leader of the council and the chief executive ‘prioritise’ this work.

Exploring devolved powers will back the good work already started by the council’s economic development team to work with partners to help grow the economy and population of the district over the next 20 years.