May 20, 2016 3.48 pm
This story is over 73 months old
Councillors approve next stages in deal handing extra powers to Lincolnshire
County councillors have voted to endorse the next stages in the Greater Lincolnshire Devolution deal, despite an almost unanimous admission that a directly elected mayor was unwelcome. As previously reported, key points of the proposal include: The combined authority will receive £15 million a year, for the next 30 years, for infrastructure projects Funding and…
County councillors have voted to endorse the next stages in the Greater Lincolnshire Devolution deal, despite an almost unanimous admission that a directly elected mayor was unwelcome.
As previously reported, key points of the proposal include:
The combined authority will receive £15 million a year, for the next 30 years, for infrastructure projects
Funding and responsibilities will include transport, housing, skills training and flood risk management
A directly elected mayor will lead the combined authority, with elections potentially taking place in 2017
All the councils will continue to exist in their current form
Council leader Martin Hill brought forward the motion to put the devolution deal out to public consultation, stating: “The more we can claw back from government to decide locally, the better.
We came to a pragmatic decision to accept the directly elected mayor. The door would have been closed by the government otherwise.
The motion was supported by a range of councillors who spoke at the meeting, including Conservative Jackie Brockway and Liberal Democrat John Marriott who described it as a “foot in the door” for greater powers in the future.
Councillor Nick Worth
In supporting the principle, Councillor Nick Worth said that “Lincolnshire won’t ever have a greater opportunity” to gain powers from Westminster.
An Independence from Europe’s Chris Pain also gave his full backing to the devolution deal, arguing that it was better to have powers locally instead of being dictated to by some “pompous civil servants down in London”.
Councillor Chris Pain
While the motion was carried by the council, there were many dissenting voices.
Leading those was Labour’s Phil Dilks, who was unconvinced by the proposals.
He said: “It’s a bit like saying ‘sign here and we’ll let you know what you’ve signed later’.
The people of Lincolnshire do not want a directly elected mayor.
Councillor Phil Dilks
Helen Powell, from the Lincolnshire Independents, said that she was “frightened” that the democracy that people had died for would be eroded by the devolution deal and mayor.
Labour councillor Sarah Dodds questioned whether Lincolnshire was actually gaining any extra powers, fearing that it was actually an attempt to centralise powers by central government.
UKIP’s Anne Reynolds added: “I don’t want this version of devolution where we have a mayor forced on us.”
Lincolnshire residents will now be consulted on the proposals over the summer.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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