The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A devolution deal for Lincolnshire was expected to be on the table from the Chancellor in his autumn statement this week.
This means the county will have to elect a mayor to oversee a huge budget.
Lincolnshire has been vying for a deal for several years, but missed out on the latest round of deals earlier this year.
It also failed at devolution in 2016 because leaders at South Kesteven District and Lincolnshire County councils didn’t want a mayor as an additional layer of bureaucracy.
But the latest announcement, expected to be made yesterday (Wednesday), has included the county along with neighbouring Humberside.
If it is successful, devolution will introduce an additional layer of government as an elected mayor would be added to the county and district councils as well as the unitary authorities of North and North East Lincolnshire.
Any announcement this week will be followed by consultation and the first elected mayor will be in post during 2025. The single authority could be providing council services in the future.
But the potential impact on the South East Lincolnshire Partnership is less clear.
South Holland District Council joined with Boston Borough and East Lindsey in 2021 to form the new partnership.
There remains a possibility that the partnership could unite to become a unitary council in its own right.
A unitary authority combines the powers of county and district councils.
The new tier of ‘combined authority’ announced this week will represent 1.1 million people.
The county council was also among a trial group to be monitored by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for adult social services.
It has been rated as providing a ‘good’ standard of support.
There were five pilot local authority assessments of how councils meet their care act duties.
“It vindicates all the hard work and commitment that our staff and partners put in on a daily basis to support those who need it to keep people as independent, fit and healthy as possible,” said Coun Wendy Bowkett, executive councillor for adult care and public health.
There were areas highlighted as needing to be addressed, including pathways for autistic people and also for young people transitioning to adult services. The council says it is working on areas which were highlighted by the CQC.
