‘Massive benefits’ for one council, leader says

Making South Holland District Council into one big council with Boston and East Lindsey would provide ‘massive benefits’, its leader Coun Nick Worth has said.

He was asked if it was correct the South and East Lincolnshire Local Partnership was “going down the road of a unitary authority”, by Coun Allan Beal at the meeting of SHDC’s Cabinet on Tuesday night.
Coun Nick Worth said: “When we set up the partnership there was always the option at some point in the future to look to see when we could become one council.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been afraid to say that if it’s something in the future there may be an opportunity for, then why not go for it?
“We’ve all the structures in place to do that if we need to.
“There would be some massive benefits for all of us. It’s an ambition.”
Here in South Holland we have a two tier form of government. Lincolnshire County Council oversees things, such as highways and social care, while district councils like South Holland provide services such as bin collections and leisure facilities.
A unitary authority would oversee all the services that both councils currently provide.
The South and East Lincolnshire Local Partnership was set up in October 2021 between SHDC, Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council.
The three now share a host of staff, including a chief executive, and merged a number of teams.
At Tuesday’s meeting the cabinet voted to support new procurement policy and ‘Sub-Regional Strategy’ for the all the authorities and Coun Worth also spoke about creating a single constitution for the partnership.
It was set up partly due to a bid by Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire to become a Greater Lincolnshire authority, possibly also a unitary authority, that would oversee the whole of the county.
It’s applied to the government for ‘devolution’, something that would likely see an elected mayor role introduced to oversee a Greater Lincolnshire council.
However Coun Worth has previously said the district council would not be letting any of its services or powers go as part of that process.
Coun Beale raised the one-council question as it was mentioned in documents relating to the new South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Sub-Regional Strategy which came before the cabinet.
The document says that two years on from the formation of the partnership, the associated councils are over 50 per cent of the way to making the £42m savings targeted and brought in over £150m in government funding.
It continues: “The partnership enables all three councils to position themselves well for the future, putting it in a strong position to respond and adapt to the government’s Levelling Up agenda as well as any structural reform or devolution offers that may affect Greater Lincolnshire in the future, ensuring a case is put forward that has the best interest of local residents and businesses at its heart.”