A referendum to gauge Lincolnshire residents’ appetite for scrapping eight councils in favour of a unitary approach to local government in the county has been shelved. County council leader Martin Hill announced last month that it was his intention to ask for councillors’ support for the poll to be held on May 4. He said the move would remove residents’ confusion over which tier ...

A contractor is about to be appointed with a view to starting an £8.8m highways project in Holbeach in May. Lincolnshire County Council’s executive has now approved plans to progress with improvement works at Peppermint Junction, as well as moving forward with the creation of a South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone (FEZ) and the delivery of approximately 900 new homes. The council said: “The ...

Two South Holland business are among more than 350 employers “named and shamed” by the government for underpaying staff. Paula Leverton, trading as Fourwinds Equestrian Centre in West Pinchbeck, and Wykeham Staff Services, of Holbeach Road, Spalding, are on what the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy says is the largest-ever published list of national minimum and living wage ...

A new blacksmith has joined Chain Bridge Forge, helping to secure the Spalding-based living museum’s future, it is hoped.   Qualified blacksmith David Baynes, will combine helping at the forge with continuing to run his farrier business. The Voice was among local media to promote the  High Street forge’s call for additional help, which has also resulted in an influx ...

Individuals are being invited to get involved in a new project designed to create a community shed where they can get together, socialise and share skills. The new Men’s Shed South Holland project seeks to create a shared space to work on individual or group projects in a friendly environment. Heidi Haxeltine, of Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service, has been ...

“Substantial” roadworks are being planned throughout Spalding this summer. Lincolnshire County Council highways is working on a project to carry out resurfacing in four areas of the town, including Winsover Road, part of which has been closed since mid-December for a complicated sewer repair by Anglian Water. Notices have been posted around the town advising utility firms of the scheduled ...

John Hayes is taking his fight to get tougher sentences for criminals convicted of assaulting police officers to the Home Secretary. The MP for South Holland and The Deepings says those convicted of assaults on police officers should automatically receive a jail sentence. And he will give that opinion to Amber Rudd, urging her to instigate a change. Mr Hayes ...

Circus operators say planned protests calling for it to stop using animals in shows have not deterred visitors. Last weekend (Feb 11), members of Lincoln Animal Rights group gathered at Circus Mondao during its half-term run of shows in Weston. Circus ringmistress Petra Jackson said the shows had been as popular as ever. She added: “We made an announcement at ...

Lincolnshire County Council’s member for Crowland says the new average speed cameras on the A16 bypass do not extend far enough. Coun Nigel Pepper believes Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership made an error when it didn’t install the cameras right the way to Lincolnshire’s border with Cambridgeshire. His comments came in the week that a Spalding couple were killed close to the border when ...

It’s a massive landmark able to be seen from miles around and it is due to undergo a facelift this year. You might have passed it hundreds – or even thousands of times – but what do you actually know about the water tower in Spalding? And where does that H2O come from? To find out more, news editor Nigel Chapman ...

I understand the NHS in England is now embarking on another major organisational upheaval – implementing five-year ‘Sustainability and Transformation Plans’ covering all aspects of our NHS spending. This latest attack on our NHS comes with more pressure to squeeze the health service and follows on from the wholesale marketisation reforms under the previous coalition government. The stark warning from ...

Given the publicity surrounding the shortcomings of the National Health Service, I should like to cite my own recent experience of how excellent the local service can be. A short time ago I was involved in an emergency relating to a ward member who collapsed, and I called 999. The response was reassuring and speedy. The doctor and medics (up to six at ...

In response to Coun Malcolm Chandler’s letter (“Vital to keep reporting offences”, February 9). I think it is quite right to mention some of the issues regarding the tackling of anti-social matters now in this reply.  Several people during last year kept mentioning that the reason they no longer call the police is that the police conclude that things like street ...

Food manufacturer Bakkavor and Spalding health and wellbeing charity Tonic Health have teamed up again to promote healthy eating. The second educational workshop for schoolchildren aged from 5 to 12 focused on wraps and other nutritious alternatives to bread. It followed another successful workshop last month on the importance of fruit and salads for a healthy diet. These workshops are ...

Beware homeowners, landlords, tenants and all home sharers who are not family members – changes are coming that affect us all. We all know, especially the shift workers of Spalding returning home in complete darkness, that councils are short of money, but maybe not for long. Have you received recently an electoral role application form? It is our duty, as ...

The sails of Moulton Mill will soon be turning again, it is hoped, with planning consent now being sought to rectify a failed element of its £2million restoration. The mill’s fantail was removed around 18 months ago after it sagged when wooden staging began to rot. The issue led the mill to be placed back on the Heritage at Risk ...

Former Spalding man Andy Hall has appealed his conviction for criminal defamation and computer crimes in Thailand. The human rights defender’s legal team lodged the paperwork last week, five months after the outcome of his case in Bangkok. The conviction related to publication of a report entitled Cheap Has A High Price in 2013 by Finnwatch, a Finnish civil society organisation. ...

South Holland and the Deepings MP John Hayes has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal Chartered Institute For Further Education. In a ceremony at Apothecaries Hall in London, chairman of the institution, the Rt Hon The Lord Lingfield, described it as “an historic occasion” and praised Mr Hayes for his “outstanding work championing vocational training and raising the ...

by Dr Susan Oosthuizen Reader in medieval archaeology, University of Cambridge Twitter: @DrSueOosthuizen I am interested generally in the medieval fenland, what it looked like and what it was like to travel around it. So I have done some work on the medieval canals of the peat fens and, more recently, the management of the peat fens in the Anglo-Saxon ...

South Holland District Council has acknowledged the hard work and achievements of some staff members. The Value In People Recognition Awards acknowledge “delivery of services to the community” over the previous 12 months. Ayscoughfee Hall Museum tweeted its thanks after being named winner of the Bright Idea Award category. A council spokesman said: “The Value In People Awards brought together ...