Report of the Chairman of Executive Board.

The Leader of the Council presented Members with his report, pages 63 to 64 of the Agenda refer.

Further to his report, the Leader provided an update in relation to the Healthy Living Team – local support as follows:

It was highlighted to Members that the Council was committed to supporting its residents to access and navigate online support and services as basic digital skills and confidence helped people save time, money, reduce social isolation and helped them fully engage with society.

The Council’s Healthy Living team had been working closely with local digital inclusion charity Lincs Digital to help people at the Council’s community digital drop-ins across the district and together had offered people non-judgemental and friendly help.

Following this successful partnership, the Leader of the Council was pleased to announce it would continue working with Lincs Digital this year and the charity would become ELDC’s ‘digital inclusion partner’ to help it better understand the needs of the community and offer practical help to reduce barriers to accessing the internet.

To find out more about the Council’s digital inclusion work, community-drop-ins or information and advice for people on accessing data, devices and support Members could visit: https://www.e-lindsey.gov.uk/DigitalInclusion

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

Internal Drainage Board (IDB) Special Interest Group (SIG)

Members were pleased to see that the SIG had successfully obtained an uplift to the one-off grant awarded to meet the levy increases which had increased from £3m to £5m.

A Member considered that it was important to leave a legacy for the future with the IDBs and SIGs and queried how this would translate into a new authority following local government reorganisation and how plans would be put in place for this to go forward.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised that with regards to legacy projects there would be limited time to engage in this, however the Council was in a fortunate position where it had the means to do this.  The Leader added that IDBs would continue after the new local government structures were in place and it was important to ensure they continued to be well-funded, as well as maintaining good working relationships with external agencies.

Thanks were passed to the out-going Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Development)/Section 151 Officer who had been a wonderful advocate for East Lindsey for the IDB levies.

GDF Update

A Member queried whether the Community Partnership’s (CP) search area/ward boundaries remained appropriate as they did not take Louth into account.

In response, the Leader of the Council advised that the search areas would be discussed at the next CP Meeting and he would continue to attend the meetings until the ELDC Executive Board made a decision to leave the GDF process.

A Member thanked the Leader of the Council for his update on the proposed nuclear waste dump.  However, it was considered that if the Council wished to portray itself as a caring Council then it needed to focus on the people affected by this rather than the land and acknowledge the stress and anxiety caused to the people of Theddlethorpe by offering an apology to them.

In response, the Leader of the Council stated that he was intensely aware of the hurt and concern that had been suffered by local residents and added that the statement he made when he announced the Council’s intention to withdraw from the Community Partnership clearly addressed that.  He added that he could not make an apology as any responsible council would have had to engage in the process from start to finish to gain a full understanding of the proposal.  He regretted that the process had taken 4 years to get to this point, however many challenges had been presented along the way.

A Member thanked the Leader of the Council for his leadership, and for his statement on the intention to leave the NWS Community Partnership (CP) which bode very well for the new authority to be set up.  He further asked that the Leader made it his intention to oppose nuclear reactors on the Lincolnshire coastline.

In response, the Leader of the Council thanked the Member for his comments and hoped that after the local government reorganisation there would be Councillors in the new model authority to shape the changes that were to come and to maintain a strong link between residents and representatives.

Healthy Living Team – local support.

Members collectively offered their best wishes to the future success of the Healthy Living Team and agreed that it was really important that all lived healthier lives.

Local Government Reorganisation

A Member queried why there was no public update relating to Local Government Reorganisation and highlighted that it was a concern that the Council had to take a position on this by 21^st March 2025.

Following which, assurance was requested that any representations made on this would be backed by evidence on council spend, income generation, travel and work patterns, for example, so that any future authority was sustainable and not set up to fail the residents.

In response, the Leader of the Council thanked the Member for the points well-made and advised that similar issues had been highlighted at the District Leaders and Chief Executive Meeting earlier that day.  He agreed that it was important for evidence to be put forward and also an understanding of what any potential structures would be.  Members were reminded that an all-Councillor Member Briefing had been scheduled after the close of the meeting.

In conclusion, the Leader of the Council passed his thanks to the Chairman of the Councillor for his exemplary service during the year and further extended his best wishes to the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Development)/S151 Officer in her new role.

N.B.  The Meeting adjourned for a comfort break at 3.35pm and re-convened at 3.51pm.

N.B.  Councillor Andrew Leonard joined the Meeting at 3.51pm.