West Lindsey District Council

THE NEWSLETTER FOR PARISH AND TOWN COUNCILSTHROUGHOUT WEST LINDSEY

Parish MattersFebruary 2011

Mobile libraries: Thewinners and the losers

Villages throughout West Lindsey willbe affected by a review of the mobilelibrary service by the county council.

Some areas are winners with new stopsbeing created, some parishes get a reducedservice, and some places are losers as theservice will be withdrawn altogether from theend of March.

The review has centred around use and alllocations that did not have at least threecustomers in a 30 minute period have beendiscontinued so that alternative sites can betried.

On the list to lose the service are:Rothwell, Scothern, South Carlton andStainton le Vale.

Places where the service will be reduced toan hour a month are: Caistor, Nettleham,Scotter, Cherry Willingham and Keelby.

New stops are being tried at: Fenton,Laughterton, Northorpe, Lea, Corringham,Sudbrooke, and Burton Waters.

The hunt is on for a new location inBinbrook, and new locations have beenfound in Scampton, Owmby by Spital,Osgodby, Hemswell Cliff, Glentham,Snitterby and Bishop Norton.

For more information please contactWendy Hutchinson on (01522) 553385 oremail wendy.hutchinson@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Parish councils have been reassured that they will not be financially disadvantagedby the district council’s decision to move to whole council elections in May.

West Lindsey’s Director of Strategy and Regeneration, Rachel North, saidparishes where there were contested elections on May 5 would be expected tocover the cost - but not until the following year when elections would have beendue in any case.

“Parishes will have to show that the district council’s decision to move to all outelections and parish elections on the same day has caused them unexpectedfinancial problems, but where this is the case payment of election expenses will bedelayed a year to allow parishes time to raise the money through their precept inthe normal way,” said Ms North.

She stressed that the council had no choice over the date of all out elections asWest Lindsey has to fall in line with all other authorities which hold Whole CouncilElections.

Parishes get finance pledge

This is a question we are often asked byparish councillors, so we would like to takethe opportunity to tell you what we know sofar and what we think might happen in thefuture.

What we know for certain is that theStandards regime will disappear in itsentirety – probably by the end of this year.

With it will go the Code of Conduct andthe requirement for district councils likeWest Lindsey to have a StandardsCommittee. None of these functions are tobe transferred to other bodies – they willjust go because the Coalition Governmentbelieves that having a body with the powerto suspend a local authority member whichis regulated by a quango is inconsistentwith the principles of localism. They alsobelieve that Standards Committees can beused for malicious or politically motivatedcomplaints.

Instead, the Government says that it isthe right and responsibility of the electorateto decide who represents them and thatgetting rid of the Standards regime willrestore power to local people.

However, things will not change overnight.The present arrangements will stay in

place until a fixed date announced by theGovernment. This is likely to be a couple ofmonths after the Bill gets Royal Ascent sothat could take us into February next year.

Until then, allegations of misconduct canstill be made and arrangements will bemade to make sure that investigations thathave been started will be taken to a con-clusion. But no action will be taken after acut off date has been passed.

After the Standards Board has gonethere will still be some rules for councillorsto follow. They will still have to register anddeclare personal interests and will still beunable to use their position for personalgain.

And anyone who wilfully fails to comply

with the rules could face criminal proceed-ings.

In the Government’s Press statement, nomention is made of parish councils, so itlooks like that once the Standards regimehas been abolished, district councils willhave no jurisdiction over parish councillors.

Whilst district and parish councils are notlegally bound to adopt a Code of Conductit remains a good idea to have somethingwhich supports the behaviour and expecta-tions of elected members on a voluntarybasis.

West Lindsey is continuing to work hardat improving relationships with parishcouncils and may consider introducing avoluntary Local Code.

� Would you be in favour of a LocalCode?

We would be interested to hear the viewsof both parish councils and individual coun-cillors. Please let us know how you feel byemailing communicationsteam@west-lindsey.gov.uk

Parish Matters

Councillors’ fundhelps communities

What happens when theStandards Board is no more?

2

West Lindsey Councillor Malcolm Leaning (right) pictured with Nettleham Parish CouncilChairman Terry Williams and the village design guide. Cllr Leaning’s £1,000

Initiative Grant helped to meet the printing costs.

Community groupsthroughout the districthave been given a

massive boost thanks to WestLindsey District Council.

Despite a significant reduc-tion in cash from the govern-ment – the council is pleased ithas been able to support localcommunities.

Sports equipment, wifi andeven a new footpath are justsome of the projects whichhave been supported - thanksto the Councillor InitiativeFund.

It gives each elected mem-ber £1,000 to spend on pro-jects in their ward.

Many chose to divide theirallocated fund between severalinitiatives within their ward andas a result submitted severalapplications, others allocatedtheir entire fund to a single ini-tiative.

� Continued on page 3

Lea Village Hall is just one of manygroups to benefit from the fund.

The group has invested £40,000 to givethe outside of their village hall a muchneeded make over.

They received £1,000 from Cllr JessieMilne’s allowance towards the cost.

Cllr Milne said: “It is vitally important wekeep village halls like this alive becausethey are the very lifeblood of rural commu-nities.”

Work to the hall includes urgent repairsto the drainage system, paving, trees,retaining walls, paths and flower beds.

Treasurer and secretary May Greenwaysaid she was delighted with the grant: “Themanagement committee has had to workits socks off to raise the £40,000 neededfrom a variety of sources.”

Nettleham Parish Council was given£1,000 from Cllr Malcolm Leaning’s alloca-tion, to pay for printing costs of theNettleham Design Plan.

He said: “The council is trying to encour-age as many town and parish councils aspossible to have a parish design planbecause it will help when it comes to mak-ing planning decisions.”

This cash meant the parish council couldprint an extra 2,000 copies to make sureeveryone in the village got a copy.

Willingham Parish Council was given£1,000 towards resurfacing the cemeteryfootpath.

Cllr Reg Shore said: “It was such a bigproject for a small cemetery and a small vil-lage. Without this cash the parish councilwould never have been able to afford it.

“The cash was not just spent on resur-facing the footpath it also helped sort outthe shrubbery and making some gravestones safe.

“It was thanks to the parish council, HillHolt Wood and money from West LindseyDistrict Council that we were able toaddress this issue.”

More than 20 children were treated to aspecial trip to the pantomime at the TrinityArts Centre in Gainsborough.

Cllr Mel Starkey used part of hisallowance to treat youngsters who attendGAPA (Gainsborough Adventure PlayAssociation) to a trip to the ChristmasPantomime.

He said: “I wanted to do something tosupport the centre and the children thor-oughly enjoyed the trip.”

Cllr Malcolm Parish and Cllr Di Rodgersboth used parts of their fund to help ToftNewton Parish Council.

They helped to buy sports equipmentand a secure shed to store the equipment.

Cllr Parish said: “Toft Newton is an areathat requires all the help it can get. It is anarea in real need of rejuvenation.”

“I am thrilled Cllr Rodgers has helped out

as well because the kids have very little todo and they needed some place to keeptheir new equipment safe.”

Cllr Parish praised the scheme and saidover the years it has really benefitted thelocal community in West Lindsey.

He added: “It gives us a chance to reallyhelp people. We are out in the wards andcan see what community groups are reallymissing.”

Cllr Angela Lawrence allotted half of hergrant to Caistor Town Hall to pay towardsadditional free wifi access for anyone usingthe Town Hall.

A joint Development Trust/Multi UseCentre & West Lindsey scheme alreadyprovides free wifi access at the multi usecentre.

The new scheme will be of use for con-ferencing at the Town Hall and provide afree link for anyone needing to connect tothe internet.

Caistor’s Town Hall has recently under-gone a major makeover thanks to grantsfrom Biffa (waste management company),Communitylincs and the town council.

Cllr Alan Caine has given £500 to CaistorHeritage Trust, with two further £500 sumscoming from Caistor Development Trustand Renaissance East Midlands.

He said: “This will be used to cataloguethe wealth of heritage material that hascome to light over recent years both intangible items and photographic collec-tions spanning well over a century of histo-ry. This will all be digitised and available onthe internet worldwide.”

Parish Matters 3

� From page 2

District Councillor Alan Caine and Alan Dennis of Caistor Heritage Trust examine the plate that has been fixed to the rear ofParkers Drapers shop to mark the history of the site.

Helping hand despite cash cutsHow did your

councillor spend theInitiative Fund?

Find out by visitingwww.west-lindsey.gov.uk

after March 31