County Council Leader Slams Independent West Lindsey Councillor as 'Ignorant'

Conservative Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr. Martin Hill OBE has had to intervene and write a letter to the Lincolnshire Echo following comments made by an Independent West Lindsey district councllor, describing them as 'ridiculous and completely false'.

Two weeks ago, Cllr Chris Darcel made a number of claims that were so far-fetched they seemed unworthy of being answered. 

However, given that these claims were then repeated in last week's paper [The Lincolnshire Echo], I feel it's important that the record is set straight. 

Over the last few years the county council has had to take bold action to help put right the nation's finances, left in such a disastrous state by the previous Labour government.

Unlike some, we refused to bury our heads in the sand. We pushed ourselves to find new ways of doing things, finding savings of around £150m while protecting the vital services that our residents rely on.

And we have done this in an open and transparent manner, with the vast majority of decisions taken in public and all our accounts and committee records published online for all to see.

We also make sure we give people ample opportunity to voice their views, a recent example being our three-month consultation on local library services, which received hundreds of responses.

And by getting the public involved we were left in the enviable position of having a plan that not only saved money but extended services too. 

Unfortunately, we have now been asked to reconsider our decision and hold further discussions with a not-for-profit company that is interested in running services.

I would also like to underline the council's commitment to building the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.

Major projects like this are complicated and inevitably bring challenges.

We are now making a small adjustment to our design so we can address the planning inspector's concerns. 

Let me be clear though – we will build an eastern bypass, and this will not only relieve congestion by improving traffic flow in the city, but will have a tremendously positive impact on economic prosperity for the county as a whole. 

The points Cllr Darcel raised about the county's new Energy from Waste Facility were ridiculous and completely false. 

A full technical assessment took place to identify the best option for Lincolnshire, and the county council's officers negotiated a very good deal.  Far from wasting money, the contract has saved taxpayers £30 million over the next 25 years.

I'm afraid Cllr Darcel is simply ignorant of the facts both in respect to the alternative ways of dealing with waste, and with regards to the finance arrangements. We have tried to correct him on numerous occasions but, sadly, he refuses to accept when he's wrong. 

By being sensible with our finances and living within our means, we have successfully navigated perhaps the most challenging years local government has seen. 

Simply put, thanks to our efforts and those of our colleagues around the country, the nation is now in a far better position, with the economy starting to look far healthier.

Cllr. Martin Hill - Conservative Leader of Lincolnshire County Council

Liberal Democrats and Independent Win By-Election Contests

In a close fought contest, for the Lincolnshire County Council seat of the Scotter Rural Division, Liberal Democrat, Lesley Rollings has succeeded in her third attempt to win the seat. The Conservatives' candidate, Richard Butroid, came in second, followed by candidates from UK Independence Party, Nick Smith, and the Lincolnshire Independents party, Chris Darcel.

Above: (Left to Right) Front row: John Gilliam, Matt Boles, Harriett Fowler, Cllr. Trevor Young, Barry Coward (unsuccessful district candidate), Cllr. Lesley Rollings and Cllr. Reg Shore (WLDC Liberal Democrat Leader),
Rear row: Behind Cllr. Rollings is Cllr. David Dobbie and his son, Rhys, Keith Panter, Paul Key, Harry Warriner, Heather Shore, Adi O'Neil, John Rollings, Cllr. Pat O'Connor.

In the Scotter Ward of West Lindsey District Council election Christopher Day, who ran with out descriptor on the ballot paper, secured victory, followed by John Cox, Conservative, Barry Coward, Liberal Democrat and Dr. Howard Thompson for the UK Independence Party.

Speaking at the Count, Conservative Party Agent, Giles McNeill said:

"I think these two results are very interesting in two ways; firstly, that whilst the Lib Dem candidate improved their share of the vote in the county contest, it actually went down in the district contest. The election of the Scotter Parish Council Chairman, Cllr. Chris Day and Cllr. Mrs. Lesley Rollings suggests that local residents want local candidates. This is something I am sure will be taken on by the [Conservative] party locally. 

"Secondly, despite the widespread misconception that the UK Independence Party is continuing to find supporters, this is not supported by the evidence of these two elections. In May, earlier this year, UKIP came second in the county contest. Today they are in third place and have lost seven percentage points since May."

Mark Valadares, on the Liberal Democrat Voice blog, subsequently observed:

"Lincolnshire wasn’t kind to Liberal Democrats in the 2013 County elections, with our vote share dropping by three-quarters and two of our five seats lost, so a December by-election in Scotter Rural wouldn’t have seemed to be promising much other than more pain, especially with UKIP in second place in May, but in a fine rebound, the seat was gained from the Conservatives on a 22% swing. 

"Admittedly, the West Lindsey District ward of Scotter didn’t see matching success, but our vote, small though it was (14.3%) held up pretty well."

Full results for the County Council contest are available here and here for the District Council contest.

Conservatives Maintain Control of West Lindsey District Council

The Conservatives have maintained their overall control of West Lindsey District Council, and have topped the poll of all twenty five wards.

In the first 'whole' council elections to take place in the district since 1999 the Conservatives emerged as the clear winners of the contest increasing their share of the vote by more than seven percentage points.

Almost 250 presiding officers and poll clerks worked throughout the day, as people cast their votes from 7:00am to 10:00pm.


Support staff also toured the district, which ranges from the Lincoln fringe villages of Saxilby, Nettleham and Fiskerton in the south to Gainsborough and Caistor further north.

Approximately 100 cross-party activists crowded around the rows of tables at the West Lindsey Leisure Centre’s sports hall, in Gainsborough to observe the count of the ballots.

The first box arrived just fifteen minutes after the polls closed, triggering a steady stream of ballot boxes.

The Counting process began at 11:00pm and following more than three hours of verifying the papers, the first result was announced at about 2.45am, with Conservative Ian Fleetwood holding his seat in the Bardney ward.

The former Conservative Group Leader said:

"I am feeling elated. The brilliant news for the taxpayer is we are now on a four-year election cycle and it will cut down on election expenses.

"I will still continue to serve them in the best way possible."

Above: Conservatives celebrate as Roger Patterson takes
Scampton ward from the Liberal Democrats.

The Liberal Democrats had a bad night losing three councillors, including: Scampton, Gainsborough North and Gainsborough East. In Scampton ward Roger Patterson won by just ten votes - a considerable achivement having lost by one vote last year. In Gainsborough North and Gainsborough East Labour had elected it's first two councillors since Irene Tyson was elected in Gainsborough North in the local elections of Thursday, 2nd May 2002.

Council Leader Burt Keimach was quietly confident his party's track record and policies to make at least £1.5 million available to community projects would lead them back into power.

Despite losing £2.5 million of Government funding over the next two years, he said there would be no redundancies in 2011-12 and the authority was aiming to be entrepreneurial by inviting businesses to bid for £3 million.

This would be in the form of a "Dragon's Den-style" initiative, in which the Gainsborough-based authority receives a stake in a company in return for providing money.

The biggest, and saddest, shock came for the Conservative group when one of the council's most widely respected members lost her seat. Mrs. Meg Davidson was ousted by Cllr. Chris Darcel (Independent), who had led a bitter, personal campaign against the mild-mannered, hard working, councillor in the Fiskerton ward contest; losing by just 19 votes.

The Liberal Democrats vote was down considerably (8.62% points) as was the Labour vote, due to the limited number of candidates fielded. Independents came third in the poll with 7.58% of the vote.

The result of the election means that the Conservatives are in a commnding position to lead the authority for the next four years whilst the Liberal Democrats, Labour and various Independents will struggle to have a significant impact.

The final result is Conservatives 21, Liberal Democrats 11, Labour 2 and Independents 3.