Lincolnshire county councillors reject devolution deal
Plans for a significant transfer of powers from Westminster to Greater Lincolnshire appear in tatters after county councillors overwhelmingly rejected the proposed devolution deal. The deal on offer would create a new combined authority, with a directly elected mayor. The new authority would receive £15 million a year, for the next 30 years, for infrastructure…
Lincolnshire County Councillor Richard Davies. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Plans for a significant transfer of powers from Westminster to Greater Lincolnshire appear in tatters after county councillors overwhelmingly rejected the proposed devolution deal.
The deal on offer would create a new combined authority, with a directly elected mayor.
The new authority would receive £15 million a year, for the next 30 years, for infrastructure projects.
Funding and responsibilities would include transport, housing, skills training and flood risk management.
A total of 43 councillors voted against the proposals at a meeting on Thursday, October 20, with 17 voting in favour and five abstentions.
Lincolnshire County Council leader Martin Hill
However, the final decision rests with Lincolnshire county council leader Martin Hill.
He said: “It’s a bit like Boris Johnson with Brexit – I think you could equally make a strong case for going down a certain road or for not doing so.
“I will not be able to deliver devolution without a directly elected mayor.
“This is not pure devolution but the first step on the road. If you signed up to this combined mayoral authority deal, you will be given preferential treatment from government when future devolution deals come along.
“This deal would secure the future of Greater Lincolnshire.”
Vocal opposition
Labour opposition leader on the council, Councillor John Hough, said: “I don’t think we can do a Donald Trump and claim the consultation was fixed. I think we have to look at what the people of Lincolnshire said.
“They feel the mayor is another layer of bureaucracy on top of what we have already got. They feel it’s an unnecessary expense.”
Conservative councillor and cabinet member Richard Davies voted against the proposals.
He said: “I don’t really care about the mayoral aspect really. I’m no great lover of government of any sort.
“The scariest words in the English language as Reagan famously said were: ‘Hello I’m from the government, I’m here to help’. The second scariest words are: ‘I think I agree with John Hough’.
“When I return back to Grantham, God’s chosen town, how can I seriously suggest that we fix two broken layers of local government in Lincolnshire by the addition of a further two? On no level does that make sense.
“We’ve been negotiating for months. Time and time again we put in black and white what we want and time and time again the bureaucrats in Westminster throw it back in our face.”
So far seven out of 10 local authorities voted to move the devolution deal, with the county council being the first to reject it.
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Lincoln Cathedral will open its Christmas events to the public despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including a new outdoor carol service.
The service will take place at the newly opened Dean’s Green at 3.45pm on Sunday, December 20, as the cathedral choir perform a range of festive family favourites.
A popular Christmas tradition is also returning this year, with the Service of Lessons and Carols happening over four consecutive days to allow more people to see it.
This will take place from Monday, December 21 to Thursday, December 24 at 4pm to make up for the reduced numbers that can gather at the cathedral, due to COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions.
Midnight Mass will be another event to take place as usual, at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve, while the Christmas Day Eucharist will be held at 10.30am.
The Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, The Very Revd Christine Wilson, has also confirmed that public worship will restart from December 2, in line with the country coming out of national lockdown.
She said: “There can be no doubt that Advent and Christmas will be very different this year and we are committed to offering music and worship to lift the heart and soul.
“In these challenging times we hope to bring comfort and joy in to people’s lives through acts of care and compassion and the demonstration of God’s love.”
The full daily pattern of worship will not change from what it was prior to the start of lockdown, with Evensong on a Tuesday and Friday.
There have been 279 new coronavirus cases and 36 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 204 new cases in Lincolnshire, 40 in North East Lincolnshire and 35 in North Lincolnshire.
On Wednesday, 25 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, seven in North East Lincolnshire and four in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported 13 new local hospital deaths on Wednesday, including eight at United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust, three at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and two at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals.
United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust has now surpassed 300 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, national cases increased by 16,170 to 1,659,256 while deaths rose by 648 to 59,699.
In local news, Lincolnshire health bosses welcomed the first UK-approved COVID-19 vaccine, which will be rolled out from next week to priority groups such as NHS workers. Here’s who will get the vaccine first.
The leader of South Holland District Council has apologised to his residents for “failing” to convince government to take the area out of the toughest coronavirus restrictions. Lord Gary Porter has been one of a number of council leaders in Lincolnshire arguing that it was unfair for the whole of the county to begin in tier three restrictions due to the differences in infection rates across districts.
Matt Hancock has announced a new chapter for COVID-19 with the launch of the Pfizer vaccine from next week. The health secretary said in the House of Commons today that the vaccine is “particularly challenging to deploy” due to its storage temperature of -70℃.
Later in the evening Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned there would still be some months before everyone could get a jab. He acknowledged that would mean “continued hardship” and it will “continue to be tough” for some sectors until the vaccine is deployed.
“Our plan does rely on all of us continuing to make sacrifices to protect those we love so please continue to follow the rules where you live, remember, hands, face, space, and if you live in a tier three area where community testing will be made available, please take part in that.
“Together, these steps are, for now, the surest way to protect yourselves, and those you love, and by reducing the transmission of the virus, help de-escalate your area to a lower level of restrictions.”
Here’s the infection rate in your area up to December 2:
Data: GOV UK / Table: The Lincolnite
Lincolnshire’s cases up to December 2 (recent five days incomplete).
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Wednesday, December 2
27,121 cases (up 279)
17,053 in Lincolnshire (up 204)
4,831 in North Lincolnshire (up 35)
5,237 in North East Lincolnshire (up 40)
931 deaths (up 36)
610 from Lincolnshire (up 25)
165 from North Lincolnshire (up four)
156 from North East Lincolnshire (up seven)
of which 568 hospital deaths (up 13)
306 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up eight)
14 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (up two)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
247 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up three)
1,659,256 UK cases, 59,699 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
There will be a Christmas market in Lincoln this year, as the Lincoln Makers’ Market gets the go-ahead to trade in December.
Organisers had originally feared that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the market would fall victim to the same fate as the popular Lincoln Christmas Market and be cancelled.
The Makers Market has now been approved by City of Lincoln Council and will be held at Castle Square on the top of Steep Hill between Thursday, December 3 and Sunday, December 6.
According to Visit Lincoln, the event will be open from 10am to 6pm each day and is totally free to browse.
Lincolnshire’s move into tier 3 lockdown, the highest possible tier, made the event seem impossible, but organisers have been given license to hold the market this year, so long as guidelines are followed.
It is usually held monthly from March to December, but has been unable to run smoothly this year as a result of coronavirus and lockdown.
The festive market will sell homemade gifts, crafts and other local independent items from a variety of traders, including pottery, ceramics, wool couture and glass art.
It won’t be entirely ‘normal’ however, with fewer stalls being arranged to maintain social distancing and prevent spreading the virus.
Each stall holder will provide hand sanitiser for customers, everyone is being asked to wear face covering when attending, and customers aren’t advised to handle any products unless they are buying them.
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