Lincoln City Council Expects Smaller Cabinet

Newly-re-elected Labour Leader Cllr. Ric Metcalfe, who retook his seat last Thursday, as Labour wrested City Hall from Conservative controll, has said he was cutting two top jobs from the cabinet.

Cllr. Metcalfe said the aim of reducing the number of people on the cabinet from eight members to six will help the authority make financial savings and improve decision-making.

Cllr. Metcalfe's position as Leader of the Council and the other executive positions are expected to be ratified at the council's annual general meeting on Tuesday, 24th May 2011. He said:

"We plan to reduce the size of the executive committee to improve the effectiveness of decision-making and make financial savings."

Cllr. Metcalfe, who has worked in local government, served as a member of the council since 1982 and was previously Leader of the Council before Labour lost its twenty-six-years of rule to the Conservatives in 2007 continued:

"We will merge the 'customer services' portfolio into 'corporate management', making sure it remains a high priority, and we'll sit 'environment' alongside 'public protection' as we feel the two go hand in hand.

"These are challenging times, but we are determined not to allow this to prevent us from trying to do the very best for the people of Lincoln. We have a very experienced and energetic team providing the leadership the city needs."

The balance of power shifted after Labour secured seventeen seats, compared to the Conservatives fifteen. Cllr. Mrs. Helen Heath remains the sole Liberal Democrat on the Council.

Speaking at the election count in Lincoln to the Lincolnshire Echo, Cllr. Darren Grice, the Conservative Leader, said he was disappointed to lose control of the council.

"First and foremost, I am honoured that the people of Bracebridge have re-elected me for another four years. I am disappointed that we have lost control of the council by one seat.

"It will be interesting to watch, over the next year, Labour trying to build a council with a one-seat majority, as we had to do in our first year.

"The one question I will be asking Ric Metcalfe at every meeting is show us the money. Ric agrees that there has to be cuts. He does not know where yet."

Mr Metcalfe told the Lincolnshire Echo, following his win, that Labour's plans for the authority are to focus on affordable housing and the city's transport links as top priorities.

The new administration also said its main priority was to increase scrutiny at the council, by establishing a new high-profile Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee.

Chaired by Cllr. Ms Karen Lee, Labour (Carholme Ward) the committee will scrutinise plans, actions or decisions made by the council's partner organisations responsible for services in the city.

Cllr. Metcalfe said: "

There are many things that the council does not have responsibility for, but which can have a very significant effect on the lives of the people we represent. We want to be in a position to scrutinise these decisions and speak up for the people of Lincoln."

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.

David Cameron: Vote 'No' to AV today

Today is a big day for our country. It's AV referendum day and you need to make your voice heard. Unless enough people go out and vote, Britain could sleepwalk into a system that damages our democracy permanently. So I urge you to get down the polling station and vote 'No' to AV.

Remember, there are five big reasons why:

One - AV is complex. First Past the Post is so simple you can sum it up in seven words: the person with the most votes wins. AV is so confusing that when I was recently interviewed on the BBC, it became clear that one of their most experienced broadcasters didn't understand how it worked.

Two - AV is unfair. With First Past the Post, everyone gets one vote, and that vote is counted once. That's fair. But under AV, supporters of extremist or fringe parties can get their votes counted again and again and again. That's unfair. It's simply not right that the fifth vote of a Monster Raving Looney supporter counts as much as your first vote.

New Nettleham Parish Council Elected

The following twelve persons have been elected as Parish Councillors for Nettleham Parish Council, to fill twelve vacancies:

 

1. Cllr. Allan Bonney, Re-elected.
2. Cllr. Mrs. Janice Clayton (Vice-Chairman of the Council), Re-elected.
3. Cllr. John Downs (Chairman of the Property Committee), Re-elected.
4. Cllr. John Evans (Chairman of the Parish Plan Steering Committee), Re-elected.
5. Mr. Alf Frith, Returning after a one year absence.
6. Cllr. Mrs. Susan Harland, Re-Elected.
7. Cllr. John Hill (Chairman of the Planning Committee), Re-elected.
8. Cllr. Malcolm Leaning, Re-elected.
9. Cllr. Giles McNeill (Chairman of the Mulsanne Park Users Committee), Re-elected.
10. Mr. Joe Siddall, NEW
11. Cllr. Michael Spencer, Re-elected.
12. Cllr. Terry Williams (Chairman of the Council), Re-elected.

The following persons will retire from the Parish Council:

• Cllr. Mrs. Valerie Darbyshire, after five years of service.
• Cllr. Mrs. Stephanie Rouse, after one year of service.

Anger at Parish Council's 14% Council Tax Hike

Local residents of Nettleham have been reacting angrily to the arrival on their doormats of Council Tax bills showing 14% increases in the portion of Council Tax taken by Nettleham Parish Council. One local resident described their reaction as 'astonishment'.

Whilst other local authorities that cover Nettleham, such as the Police Authority, and the Conservative-controlled County and District Councils, have managed to freeze their portions of the Council Tax.

Another local resident enquired:

"I wonder if you could explain to me why Nettleham have a 14% increase in the Parish precept this year after an 8% rise last year? It does seem an unusual increase, considering the austerity measures being taken by district Council."

The 8% rise last year was not an increase in the amount of precept requested from by the Parish Council (full explanation here). In the Spring 2011 edition of the Nettleham News the Parish Clerk, explains that:

"This represents an increase of less than £9 per annum per household (1,570 households). This increase is due to the loan repayments for the re-roofing of the village hall, the removal by West Lindsey District Council of the ‘per capita’ subsidy (£3,021), Parish Elections costs (£2,000) due to WLDC decision to implement Whole Council Elections in 2011 (despite the fact that Nettleham held parish elections in 2010), the Parish Council’s decision to set aside an additional allocation to project reserves of £3,500 and necessary inflationary increases on utilities."

This explanation, whilst not inaccurate, does attempt to muddy the waters. Most people care about the percentage increase in the bill not the specifics in cash terms and a decision was taken to omit the '14%' figure from the release to the Nettleham News. Secondly, the per capita subsidy had been introduced many years ago to ameliorate the fact that Gainsborough did not have it's own Town Council. This changed in 1993 when Gainsborough Town Council was established. There is broad cross-party agreement that at that time the per capita subsidy had come to the end of it's natural life and should have finished. Thirdly, since 2005 the Parish Council has precepted £2,800 for Election costs, yet has only spent £404 on election costs in the same period. The £2,000 put into the 2011/12 budget could have been taken from reserves and the £2,396 which has been accumulated has gone into the general reserves. At the start of February the Parish Council's General Reserve stood at £29,934 and had £74,935 in Capital Reserves.

A significant number of incumbent councillors voted, earlier in the year, to approach West Lindsey District Council and extend their term of office to five years. Whilst other councillors took the principled view that election should not be avoided.

Nettleham Parish Councillor, Giles McNeill said:

"I understand local people's anger. I am proud to say that I opposed the budget for 2011/12. I also put forward my own proposals which would have achieved all the aims my colleagues identified - such as re-roofing the Village Hall - and would have led to a slight reduction in your Council Tax bill.

"Some of my colleagues it seems just don't get finance; in the 2010/11 budget I managed to ensure that we didn't put tax up any more to cover the cost of the burial ground and at our last meeting I was vindicated as the figures showed for the year to date the site had generated income.

"I have long felt that a number of my colleagues are profligate with public money and have a 'the village can afford it attitude'.  But I think of the little old lady, living on her state pension, alone, having to find extra money, I know that is wrong.  Many residents would no-doubt be shocked to learn that the Parish Council often has a surplus at the end of the year. This year a surplus of £5,600 (5.5%) is expected.

"I hope that if there is a contested Parish Council election this year people will take it seriously and consider what they really want from the people who serve the local community on Nettleham Parish Council."