Reflections 2022: Owen Bierley – Supporting our community this Christmas

By The Lincolnite News Team

Councillor Owen Bierley is Leader of West Lindsey District Council

Now that Christmas is in full swing it is starting to feel very festive. We have seen our market towns of Caistor, Gainsborough and Market Rasen turn on their Christmas lights, hosting festive markets and watched communities come out in full support of the events.

It was wonderful to see our Chairman Cllr Angela Lawrence attend our annual illuminate event in Gainsborough, which saw more than 2,500 people attend a fire garden and watch stories projected on to the walls of Gainsborough’s Old Hall to hear voices of local people.

It has been wonderful to see our communities and businesses starting to recover from the Covid 19 Pandemic and I do hope this will continue to grow our economy even further into 2023 and beyond.

This year we rolled out our new twin recycling scheme across the district, with the introduction of the new purple lidded bins, which has seen an increase in our recycling rates and the quality significantly improve. I would like to express my wholehearted thanks to each and everyone of you who helped as without your support this environmentally important initiative would not have been possible.

Work also started on the Levelling Up programme in Gainsborough and we officially opened up the Riverside Walk extension. I cannot wait to share with you all the outcome of each intervention and would encourage you all to take a look on the Invest Gainsborough website to see what’s happening in the town.

It has been a year of mixed emotions with joyful celebration for Queen Elizabeth II  – as we marked her Platinum Jubilee by planting trees and saw all our communities come together in recognition of her 70 year reign and then it was with great sadness, as we all mourned her passing in September this year.

It really brings home the message of communities supporting each other in challenging times especially as we get closer to Christmas. Please take the opportunity to check in on loved ones and neighbours and make sure they are all ok.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Reports brought to you by The Lincolnite editorial team.