Report of the Chairman of Executive Board.

The Leader of the Council referred to an updated copy of his report.  A copy is attached at Appendix B to the Minutes.

Following which, questions were put forward.

A Member referred to the award of £60 million for three towns in the Partnership and highlighted that Skegness would be benefiting from £20m over the next 10 years, following which it was queried whether this would free up ELDC money for other areas.  In response, Councillor Leyland highlighted that he had outlined this in his supplementary report, which included the opportunity to restructure the Council’s Economic team to deal with the challenges the Council faced across the district and specifically dealing with its market towns. 

A Member added that she was heartened to see a focus on market towns and stressed the importance of working in tandem with partners and highlighted the Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) Louth town centre trial traffic scheme that had had a detrimental affect on shops in the town.  In response, Councillor Leyland agreed that there needed to be a partnership approach across the board and acknowledged that there was a lack of consultation on the LCC trial traffic scheme in Louth and that it had ended badly.  Moving on from that, the positive outcomes from the Towns Fund Board was highlighted, and the recent Food Festival in Louth that was likened to the Lincoln Christmas Market in terms of the crowds and atmosphere.  And importantly, the Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy had the ambition for positive outcomes for the Council’s market towns.