Report of the Chairman of Executive Board.

The Leader of the Council presented Members with his report, pages 35 to 38 of the Agenda refer.

Following which, the Leader read out an addendum to his report in relation to the East Lindsey Investment Fund as follows:

‘We are delighted to be able to bring forward this ambitious new £10m investment to transform local places in East Lindsey as part of the new plan to boost growth and prosperity.  The fund will prioritise investment in four distinct target areas: community development, promoting visitor economy, business support and to boost the attractiveness of the area.  A key part of the East Lindsey Investment Fund is about making the district’s places more welcoming through initiatives that help improve cleanliness, safety, promote tidy and attractive shop fronts and enhance parks and public spaces.  These are the main concerns residents regularly raise with us and we want to address them face on.  We believe that this will help attract more people to visit the Lincolnshire Wolds and coastal areas, which is vital to our local businesses and economy’.

The Leader highlighted that the Council was looking to support all communities and it was critical to point out that the smallest parish should be able to gain from this as well as the larger parish and town councils and he looked forward to working with them during the process.   Thanks were also passed to Councillors Grist and Kirk who had worked very hard with officers to make this possible.

Following which, questions and comments were put forward as follows:

APSE Awards

Further to the update on the APSE Awards, a Member asked for clarification from the Retrofit Team on how long the funding for improvements would continue.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised that he would seek details with regards to the funding for improvements.

It was further queried whether small business rate relief was likely to end in March 2025.

In response, the Leader of the Council stated that there could be changes from the new government that potentially could have a damaging effect on small businesses.  There could also be changes that affected how the Council dealt with things in terms of council tax and how and where this was spent.

Wellbeing Service

A Member offered her congratulations to the Heart Team and the team responsible for the HUGS grant delivery.  Thanks was also extended to the Wellbeing Service, and clarification was sought on whether the contract was for 5 or 10 years.  A Member added that the Wellbeing Service in East Lindsey was second to none and had helped many residents in Skegness.

In response, the Leader of the Council thanked Members for their supportive comments and to the teams involved.

Household Support Fund (HSF)

A Member expressed her thanks on behalf of the people of Louth and district who had benefited from the funding and had been pleased to work with families to offer help and support.

A Member highlighted that a number of councils had already published their plans for the HSF allocated to them and queried whether ELDC had a plan in place.

In response, the Leader of the Council thanked Members for their supportive comments and to the teams involved.

Events

A Member commented that the Teenage Markets were first introduced as a result of the scrutiny on markets and its success highlighted the importance of the scrutiny process.  With regards to the recent Louth Food and Drink Festival a query was raised on how attendance compared with the previous year and how it was promoted.

In response, the Leader of the Council commented that he was pleased the Teenage markets had been successful and was supportive for them to continue.

With regards to the Food and Drink Festival, the Leader of the Council informed Members that he understood that attendance was similar to the previous year, but the team was currently evaluating the figures for an accurate assessment.

With regards to Conservation Areas, a Member highlighted that Louth Town Centre had been classed as at risk and was disappointed that this had still not been addressed.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised that the Council wanted to see the investment fund potentially working to create shop front grants so there could be improvements in market town presentation and place.  He further highlighted that in terms of the conservation area appraisal, that officers could work with English Heritage to make this happen as it had elsewhere within the district.

A Member referred to the events in Skegness and Sutton on Sea and hoped that Mablethorpe Councillors would apply for funding to host events.

In response, the Leader of the Council stated that the Council was committed to ensure the events continued, particularly as they had been so successful.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)

A Member offered his thanks for the Honda Goldwing Light Parade in Skegness that had been funded through the UKSPF.  It was highlighted that this brought a lot of money out of season into the town which businesses were very thankful for, as well as raising money for cancer charities.

In response, the Leader of the Council thanked the Member for his kind comments and added that events brought great vitality to communities and businesses and was supportive for this event to continue for future years.

East Lindsey Investment Fund (ELIF)

A Member referred to a presentation circulated to Members on the ELIF and was concerned that where it referred to coastal communities, Theddlethorpe was the highest point.  He stressed that the coast extended further north into Saltfleet and Somercotes and did not want parishes to think they were excluded from the funding.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised that it had always been the intention that the fund would be for all communities across the district, however he would ensure that this was clarified so that parishes understood that they were eligible to apply for funding.

A Member commented that he hoped the Council would consider using some of the funding for the Honda Goldwing Light Parade in future years.  He also wished to highlight that money the coast had received to date was government money for levelling up to the rest of the district and that Skegness still deserved to be funded out of the East Lindsey Investment Fund.

In response, the Leader of the Council commented that he wished to see events encouraged across all communities in the district as they made a real difference.

With regards to levelling up, the Leader stated that the government’s levelling up programme had a very specific agenda and direction of travel to meet certain challenges.  The East Lindsey Investment Fund was about spreading joy to all communities and that it was also right that this should include communities that had gained some benefit from levelling up.

Pylons

A Member requested an update on the latest situation with the pylons.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised Members that the Council was currently engaged with colleagues at Lincolnshire County Council and other councils that were involved in raising concerns about the pylons.  A National Grid consultation was held January to March 2024 whereby it sought technical agreement from the Planning Inspectorate in respect of the scope of its forthcoming environmental statement; this commenced in August 2024 and was ongoing.  The current timetable for the next stage of public consultation was mid-2025.

It was highlighted that South Holland District Council had made a statement of intent to recognise the Fenland as a particular asset in terms of food production, and the Portfolio Holder for Planning was working with SHDC to understand whether there was any potential across all three districts that there could be some designation for those very vulnerable areas.

Concerning potential development in respect of planning and due to ongoing concerns, the Council would be employing a specialist planning officer to deal with the national strategic infrastructure projects as it was faced with many large applications, not just in terms of the National grid but in terms of the large solar panel farms and potential onshore developments.