Apologies were received from Councillors William Gray, Steve Kirk and Craig Leyland.

No disclosure of interests were received.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 2^nd April 2025.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 2^nd April 2025 were confirmed as a correct record.

No outstanding actions for this Meeting.

There were no Actions from the meeting held on 2^nd April 2025.

Report to follow.

1.     That the allocation and use of £175,000 (to be funded as identified at 2.9) to support the development of a final proposal to Government for Local Government Re-organisation be approved.

2.     That the proposed governance arrangements set out at 2.10 of the report referred be noted.

A report was presented in relation to Local Government Reorganisation to consider allocating a budget for the development of a final plan to Government.

During his introduction of the report, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture and Carbon Reduction advised Members that Greater Lincolnshire was one of several areas in England that was invited by the Minister for Local Government to submit a proposal for Local Government Re-organisation.

East Lindsey District Council and South Holland District Council submitted their joint proposal (Appendix A) to Government on 21 March, 2025.  The proposal submitted was for 2 Unitary Councils in Greater Lincolnshire, as set out below:

1. South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership’s existing sub-region, plus South Kesteven and North Kesteven.
   
   
2. City of Lincoln, West Lindsey, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

Government feedback on the interim proposal was expected in early May.

Once that feedback had been received, the Councils would need to decide whether to progress with the development of a final proposal to Government for 28^th November 2025.

To position the Council to do so, an indicative budget allocation of £175,000 was being sought, should it be required, to engage external expertise to support the development of the final proposal.  It should be noted that by working with South Holland District Council (and any other Councils interested in supporting the Council’s proposal) there was an opportunity to share and reduce costs.

Government confirmed on 24 March, 2025, in a Ministerial Statement that it would allocate £7.6m to support the development of Local Government Re-organisation proposals.  The funding would be shared by 21 areas.  It was not yet clear how this would be allocated.  Notwithstanding the Government funding commitment, allocating a budget itself now, positioned the Council to move quickly on developing a final proposal, if it so chooses, once feedback was received from Government on the interim plan.

Greater Lincolnshire was earmarked by Government to go live with its new arrangements in April 2028.

The full background and details were included at Sections 1 and 2 of the report, pages 2 to 4 of the Supplementary Agenda refer.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning stated that he was very happy to support the paper and highlighted that as an authority, ELDC had to be appropriately prepared for what would be coming.  It was also important for the Council’s proposals to have been properly thought through and worked up ready for when the government wanted to move to the next stage.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the allocation and use of £175,000 (to be funded as identified at 2.9) to support the development of a final proposal to Government for Local Government Re-organisation be approved.

2.     That the proposed governance arrangements set out at 2.10 of the report referred be noted.

Reasons

To allow this Council to engage the expertise necessary (along with any other Councils that support its proposal) to develop a final  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

Report to follow.

1.     That Option 1b presented as the preferred choice within this report for collecting food waste weekly from households be noted.

2.     That drawing forward £4.175m from the Capital Programme allocation for 2027/28-2030/31 to 2026/27 to fund the capital costs of purchasing food waste collection vehicles, subject to Council approval, be approved.

3.     That slippage of £1.155m in the Capital Programme allocations for Food Waste for 2025/26 into 2026/27 to fund the capital costs of purchasing food waste collection vehicles, subject to Council approval, be approved.

4.     That an addition of £1.943m to the Capital Programme in 2026/27 to fund the capital costs of purchasing food waste collection vehicles, subject to Council approval, be approved.

5.     That the placing of an order for 27 food waste collection vehicles in June 2025 for delivery in 2026/27, subject to the budget being confirmed, be approved.

A report was presented to consider approval for placing the order for vehicles required for the introduction of weekly food waste collections across the district.

During his introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Operational Services advised Members that the Environment Act 2021 introduced the Waste Reforms Programme for England, which affected all local authorities’ waste collection and disposal arrangements.  A central pillar of these reforms was ‘Simpler Recycling’ which required waste collection authorities to provide a weekly separate food waste collection to all households from April 2026.

The Executive Board was being asked to support the recommendations to enable officers to place an order for 27 food waste collection vehicles in 2025/26 to meet the target introduction date of April 2026.  The Executive Board was also being asked to recommend amendments to the Capital Programme for Council approval in May 2025.  Additional officer resource would be introduced to support residents during the roll out of the service, including where to present their caddy, and providing information on food waste and recycling.

The Portfolio Holder for Operational Services advised Members that the preferred delivery model option was Option 1b (as set out at Appendix 1), page 11 of the Supplementary Agenda refers.

The full background and details were included at Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the report, pages 3 to 5 of the Supplementary Agenda refer.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

The Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture and Carbon Reduction acknowledged that this was a huge piece of work to undertake, particularly with the increase in housing across the district and passed his thanks to the Portfolio Holder for Operational Services for leading the project.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance highlighted that the weekly food waste collections was a legal requirement, therefore the Council must act and make the arrangements.  He considered that the plans put forward were the best solution for East Lindsey and fully supported Option 1b.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning paid credit to both the Council and its officers for the work undertaken and getting to the position of being able to place an order for the waste vehicles.

The Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy concurred with the comments made and also supported Option 1b.  He considered that the introduction of the new service for food waste collection was a potential minefield and had a huge ramification on refuse collections, however was fully confident of a smooth rollout of the service as happened when the refuse went from sack to bin collections.  He further highlighted that the Council had been excellent with communications in the past and hoped that this continued during the rollout out of the new food waste collection service.

In response, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture and Carbon Reduction agreed with the comments made and highlighted the importance of taking the communities along  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

To seek Member approval for the operational arrangements for SELCP delivery of Warm Homes – Local grant and energy advice across the sub-region.

1.           That it be agreed East Lindsey District Council should act as the lead accountable body for the Warm Homes – Local Grant programme and the Home Energy Advice Service.

2.           That the amendment of capital and revenue budgets for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 to include the Warm Homes – Local Grant programme as outlined in Table 1 of the report be supported and recommended to Council.

3.           That the amendment of revenue budgets for 2025/26 and 2026/27 to include the Home Energy Advice Service extension as outlined in Table 2 of the report be approved.

4.           That the entering into of appropriate written agreements between East Lindsey District Council, South Holland District Council and Boston Borough Council to deliver the programmes, subject to legal advice, with delegated authority given to the Assistant Director Regulatory in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction to agree the terms be approved.

5.           That the operational arrangements in Section 2.16 for Warm Homes – Local Grant delivery and Section 2.21 for the Home Energy Advice Service be approved.

6.           That the continuation of the Programme Monitoring Board for Warm Homes – Local Grant with appropriate Portfolio Holder representation from each of the three Partnership Councils and Assistant Director Regulatory to monitor quarterly progress and for this board to also receive updates in relation to delivery of the Home Energy Advice Service be approved.

7.           That in respect of programme delivery, responsibility be delegated to the Assistant Director Regulatory in consultation with the Chair of the Programme Monitoring Board including all operational matters such as determination of applications for grant funding and wider support.

A report was presented to seek Member approval for the operational arrangements for SELCP delivery of Warm Homes – Local Grant and energy advice across the sub-region.

During his introduction of the report, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction advised Members that Funding of £5,639,746had been secured from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for the next round of energy-efficiency grant delivery under the banner of Warm Homes – Local Grant.  The funding award had been received for the entire South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership sub-region.  This paper set out the proposed operational arrangements and eligibility criteria for the next round of grants ahead of a proposed launch in April 2025.  The proposal was that funding would be managed within ELDC’s Home Energy Advice and Retrofit Team on behalf of the SELCP, as had been the case with previous schemes.

In addition, working with charity partners PECT, funding of £362,720.15 had also been secured to continue the Home Energy Advice Service (previously the Local Energy Area Demonstrator) for a further two years, rolling out experience learnt from the East Lindsey pilot across the SELCP area.

The background and details were included in Sections 1 to 3, pages 12 to 18 of the Agenda refer.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

The Portfolio Holder for Partnerships stated that she was pleased to see that the Home Energy Advice Service would provide further support to residents across the sub-region, regardless of their circumstances to ensure that impartial advice and signposting could be accessed, Section 3.3, page 18 of the Agenda refers and stressed that this should be widely communicated in addition to the funding available under Warm Homes – Local Grant.

The Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy highlighted that the paper was all about improving lives in the communities and remained positive that a real difference would be made to people’s homes and lives.

In response, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture, and Carbon Reduction highlighted how well the Group Manager – Climate Change and Environment had done in securing the funding and passed his thanks on to the Home Energy Advice and Retrofit Team and all those that supported them.

RESOLVED

1.           That it be agreed East Lindsey District Council should act as the lead accountable body for the Warm Homes – Local Grant programme and the Home Energy Advice Service.

2.           That the amendment of capital and revenue budgets for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 to include the Warm Homes – Local Grant programme as outlined in Table 1 of the report be supported and recommended to Council.

3.           That the amendment of revenue budgets for 2025/26 and 2026/27 to include the Home Energy Advice Service extension as outlined in Table 2 of the report be approved.

4.           That the entering into of appropriate written agreements between East  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

To note the progress of the first two years of the South and East Lincolnshire Crowdfunding Scheme.

1.     That the progress of the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Crowdfunding scheme be noted and that its continuation be supported by Members. 

2.     That the allocation of further funds to the Crowdfunding scheme via East Lindsey Investment Fund, as agreed at Executive Board on 20^th February 2025 be noted.

A report was presented to provide an overview of the first two years of the South and East Lincolnshire Crowdfunding Scheme.

During her introduction of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships advised Members that the South and East Lincolnshire Crowdfund launched in Spring 2023 with the first funding window, following which there had been a further three funding windows.  In its first two years, the scheme had supported ten projects totalling £105,497 across the sub-region.

The report provided an overview of activity in the first two years and how it was delivering much needed financial support to community groups in line with the intentions of the three councils within South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership who jointly committed to establishing an innovative Crowdfunding scheme in 2022.

The background and details were included in Sections 1 to 2, pages 34 to 35 of the Agenda refer.

The Portfolio Holder for Partnerships highlighted that positive feedback had been received from projects that had benefited from the Crowdfunding Scheme and stressed the need to get the communications around this right due to negative perceptions on crowdfunding in general and how this had been portrayed on social media.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

The Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture and Carbon Reduction praised the efforts of the volunteers and the wellbeing it created and passed on his thanks to those involved for the tremendous work undertaken in supporting the projects.

The Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy referred to the ten fantastic schemes that had benefitted (set out at Appendix A), pages 40 to 44 of the Agenda refers and stressed the importance in getting the message out to communities as there would be many who may wish to benefit from the scheme.

In response, the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Leisure and Culture and Carbon Reduction advised Members that this was communicated in the Town and Parish newsletter and highlighted that all Ward Members should be getting the message out in their communities and encouraging them to sign up to the newsletter.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance thanked the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships and Portfolio Holder for Market Towns and Rural Economy for speaking so eloquently about the community aspect and good work that was being done.  He highlighted that this also represented incredible value to the Council as the contributions that were made through volunteers by the Council signposting, supporting and providing seed money to do the necessary, the Council was actually engaging with people who were delivering what they wanted for very little cost to the Council and was a fantastic example of people working smarter and more effectively.

The Assistant Director, Housing and Communities added that since the compilation of the report, a further 5 new projects went live, two of which were specific to East Lindsey.  Members were advised that lessons had been learned on what  ...  view the full minutes text for item 95.

The draft programmed date of the next Meeting of this Board is Wednesday 2^nd July 2025. (To be confirmed at the Council Annual Meeting on 21^st May 2025).

The next meeting of Executive Board was noted as Wednesday 2^nd July 2025.