August 30, 2022 9.00 pm This story is over 33 months old

Motion calls for council to fund “left behind” Gainsborough ward

Gainsborough East doesn’t have much going on, says councillor
West Lindsey District Council.

A West Lindsey Councillor is hoping the authority will sign up to a £900 million scheme which hopes to bring money to the most left behind areas in the country.

Councillor Mick Devine, the Gainsborough Independents ward member for Gainsborough East, will put a motion to a meeting of the Full Council on Monday calling for leaders to support the Local Trust’s Community Wealth Fund.

The proposal wants to use dormant stocks and shares, with an estimated value of £900million, to support the 225 most “left behind areas” in the country, including Gainsborough East Ward.

The Local Trust defines “left behind” places as those with an absence of community, civic, educational and cultural assets in or in close proximity to the area, a lack of an active and engaged community and a lack of connection to key services and infrastructure.

“We do not use ‘left behind’ to imply that the areas so described lack people with skills and commitment or a rich heritage,” said the trust’s website.

“However, such areas have tended not to receive their fair share of available investment and they therefore lack the services and facilities that many of us take for granted.

“It is these services and facilities that help to connect people in a community and bind them together, providing the opportunity for residents to develop and prosper. It is in this sense that they are ‘left behind’.

Councillor Mick Devine will put a motion to West Lindsey on Monday. | Image: West Lindsey District Council

Councillor Devine added: “There’s not a lot of anything much for young people and older people to do within the ward. There’s loads in Gainsborough town centre but not much up here.”

He said money was being spent elsewhere in the town, which he hoped would eventually impact on his area, but said more was needed.

His motion said the proposal was at a preliminary stage, however similar initiatives such as the Dormant Assets Scheme had “already successfully delivered significant social and environmental investment”.