The former leader of South Kesteven District Council has said that Lincolnshire County Council is to again debate creating a “single unitary authority”.
Councillor Lee, in his first speech since stepping down as leader, told members of the full council: “County council colleagues, of which a number also sit on this council, are again talking about disbanding district councils to create a single unitary authority.
“This idea has so far been strongly rejected in 2017, but it looks like the debate may be coming around again.”
Lincolnshire County Council shelved plans in that year to hold a public referendum on a unitary authority on the same day as county council elections.
Councillor Lee gives his speech to SKDC Full Council. Photo: Daniel Jaines
Some district council leaders at the time opposed the plans.
In his speech, Councillor Lee indicated the reason he was stepping down, was due to disagreement about his vision for the authority.
“I have always been very clear that I see driving economic growth and investment here in South Kesteven as the answer.
“Given that I am stepping down, clearly some of my colleagues disagree.
“Other suggestions will no doubt be put forward in due course.”
Councillor Lee told councillors it had been “a privilege” to lead the council for the past two years and said the district had “enormous potential”.
He praised the work the council had done including the new cinema, street cleaning, Lottery SK and Invest SK.
“Over the past two years, we have begun to be a council that does things. At the same time we have also been gearing up to take on some of the big challenges we are facing,” he said.
“I can honestly say I have put my heart and soul into leading this council. I’m honestly proud of what we have achieved,” he said.
During the meeting, 29-year-old Councillor Kelham Cooke was elected as leader of the council.
Councillors from the executive at Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council. Picture: LCC
Lincolnshire County Council has been approached for comment.
Earlier this week, leaders of the county, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire council announced a new partnership which it said would provide “more efficient” local authority services.
It said the authorities will look where it can work closer on waste, adult services, children services and public health.
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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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