Council

Holbeach Parish Council’s chairman Graham Rudkin is to step down from the position saying he’s become ‘disillusioned’. But he says he will continue to be on the council which South Holland District Council recently stepped in to offer mediation to following a number of complaints, controversies and reports of infighting. “I’ve just been getting disillusioned with everything.” he told The ...

Plans for a 5G phone mast in one part of Spalding are likely to be refused, while a similar scheme for a different part of the town is set to be accepted. Siting a proposed 20m mast in the Spalding Wygate ward has been recommended for rejection. But a similar mast in the Spalding St Paul’s area has the thumbs-up. ...

A total of 885 letters have been sent out to South Holland residents in the past 12 months for putting their rubbish out too early, it’s been revealed. Emily Holmes, South Holland District Council’s communities manager, told a meeting of the Spalding Town Forum last week that prosecution action had been started against one individual identified as a repeat offender ...

A war of words over litter has erupted on social media between a district councillor and members of the town’s Wombles organisation. Coun Roger Gambba-Jones has been asked to stand down following exchanges after online discussions over the Spalding Town Form meeting he chairs. As reported, he raised litter-picking at the meeting, urging those doing it to work with the ...

The Holbeach area could lose two more pubs after applications were submitted to turn them into homes. The owners of the nearly 200-year-old Plough Inn on Jekils Bank, Holbeach St Johns, and The Bull’s Neck in Penny Hill have both applied for change of use planning permissions. The owner of The Plough, Ian Osborn, only took over the lease in ...

A crackdown on council tax fraud in South Holland has been announced The district council says its going to look at the 12,500 households that receive a 25 per cent discount on their bill as they’re registered as having just one adult residing there. The authority is urging residents who are no longer entitled to the discount to contact them ...

Calls have been made that Spalding’s toilet facilities should be fully re-opened when non-essential shops open again on April 12. The amenities, which are managed by South Holland District Council, were closed across the district following the first lockdown in March 2020. The facilities in Holbeach, Donington, Long Sutton and Sutton Bridge have since re-opened Monday to Friday, 8am to ...

A bid to turn a historic phonebox into a display on some of Spalding’s history and new signs for the town are among new proposals. Coun Elizabeth Sneath is looking to adopt the Churchgate phonebox by the River Welland for a pound to preserve it going forward. It follows an article in The Voice on March 18 where the list ...

Council members who have no political affiliation are joining forces under one banner. With live broadcasting of district and county meetings, the South Holland Independents hope members of the public will choose not to use politics to decide local issues. “I hope people will have seen that councillors belonging to a political party vote with the party leader and along ...

Those behind a bid to purchase and save a village pub are vowing to continue the fight. The Chequers in Gedney Dyke was listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in 2018 following a campaign, but it’s subject to another planning permission to turn it into two homes. The ACV lasts for five years and means that before the ...

A councillor has told a committee he doesn’t regret a decision to go-ahead with purchasing a property amid claims he was ‘overruling democracy’. South Holland District Council’s Performance Monitoring Panel had previously voted that Coun Rodney Grocock should not allow the purchase of a third identified property in Spalding and instead instruct officers to find a more suitable home. However ...

The cost of parking in Spalding is set to go up in some areas from the end of the month. South Holland District Council announced the changes via its social media channels at 5pm last Friday. The cost of parking in Westlode Street will rise to £3 a day from the current £1 and the Sheep Market will rise to ...

Plans for a new solar farm next to Sutton Bridge Power Station have been given the thumbs up. EDF Renewable Energy says the development on the bank of the River Nene and on part of the site of the former RAF Sutton Bridge could power up to 16,100 homes for up to 40 years. South Holland District Council’s Planning Committee ...

Holbeach parish councillors were called into a ‘mediation’ meeting with the district council last week as bids to stop infighting continued. A number of reports of infighting and concerns over some of the council’s practices have been raised in the past year Last November, South Holland District Council told The Voice that it had received 13 complaints about Holbeach Parish ...

There’s worries over what Spalding’s nightlife could look like in future after plans were submitted to turn one in the town centre into flats. An application has been submitted to convert Mulberry’s Bar, Swan Street, into three one-bedroom maisonettes. And with other town centre pubs including The White Horse, The Black Swan and PE11 currently up for sale, there’s concerns ...

A Gedney Hill company has been told it can’t increase its hours of operation amid claims from neighbours that it is already flouting planning conditions. You Garden which is based in Long Lane had applied to South Holland District Council to extend its opening hours from 6am to 10pm on Mondays and Fridays and 7am to 8pm on Saturdays and ...

A developer has been allowed to cut the number of affordable homes it builds at a Moulton Chapel development by 80 per cent after a tied vote by councillors. Last night (Wednesday, March 10) South Holland District Council’s Planning Committee couldn’t be split on Postland Development’s request that it could only make the 58 home development financially viable if it ...

The planning application for a ‘Cluster Hub’ building at the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone, has been approved, with work due to start next month. The multi-use space will provide small and medium-sized business tenants with support services, networking, meeting and events space and catering, within the new Food Enterprise Zone near Holbeach. There will also be workshops and offices, ...

‘Fairer funding’ was likened to a unicorn as councillors lamented a ‘horrendous’ year for finances. South Holland District Council portfolio holder for finance Peter Coupland said COVID-19 had ‘ripped to shreds’ the authority’s finances, but praised staff for off-setting most of a proposed £1.7m saving. The full council passed the budget and Mid Term Financial Strategy last week. It includes ...

Market traders are set to be given a further three-month holiday from fees, but there’s concerns those in Spalding will eventually be hit with much higher fees than elsewhere. As South Holland District Council passed its budget and medium term financial strategy last week, Coun Angela Newton asked if a stated aim for registered traders at Spalding Market to pay ...