Ric Metcalfe

By Ric Metcalfe City of Lincoln Council Leader

— Labour Councillor Ric Metcalfe is the Leader of the City of Lincoln Council. He reflects on Labour winning the majority of seats in the local elections in the city and the country.

This was a great result for the Labour Party in Lincoln and across the country.

Without doubt the unpopularity of the current Conservative/Liberal Democrat government was a significant factor in our success. This is an out of touch and incompetent government.

The messages we have been getting on the doorstep during the election campaign were about the failure of the government to get economic growth going, its plan to allow further involvement of the private sector in the NHS and its cutting of public services, as well as support for many of the things the Council has been doing over the last 12 months.

We were able to fight a very positive campaign around the very solid achievements resulting from Labour’s control of the Council over the last 12 months.

Our resumption of building new council homes for the first time for 20 years, our new mortgage support scheme to help young first time buyers get a first foot on the housing ladder, and our success in putting nearly £500,000 in unclaimed benefit entitlements into the pockets of some of our poorest pensioners.

We were also able to put before the electorate our future plans to help Lincoln people deal with the effect of the recession. This is through plans to support small businesses, introduce more apprenticeships in the city, increase the supply of affordable homes, and to tackle child poverty in Lincoln.

The turnout in Lincoln was disappointingly low, but this is largely explained. It’s not by voter apathy, as is being suggested in some quarters (although that is always with us), but by Conservative voters abstaining in large number as a protest against the Government.

Labour has some real vision and ambition for Lincoln for the future. We will now be rolling up our sleeves to achieve the sustainable growth we need and the social justice that Lincoln people deserve.

The Lincolnite speaks with Ric Metcalfe at the local elections count:

Councillor Ric Metcalfe is the Labour Leader of the City of Lincoln Council.

By Ric Metcalfe City of Lincoln Council Leader

— Labour Councillor Ric Metcalfe is the Leader of City of Lincoln Council

The elections on 5th May 2011 saw the people of Lincoln express their desire to see a change in the political leadership of the City Council. Labour were returned to office after four years in opposition, reinvigorated and with some very clear priorities and plans for addressing the city’s needs and problems.

The new council quickly identified its priorities for reducing poverty and disadvantage, increasing the supply of affordable homes, becoming a better housing landlord, reducing Lincoln’s carbon footprint and becoming a more fit for purpose council.

The council launched fourteen new initiatives aimed at making a start with these priorities, which included a programme for building council houses, a benefits take up campaign to help pensioners, some initiatives to deal with anti-social behaviour and improve security and much more besides.

All this is being achieved against a very difficult financial background of cuts in spending imposed by government and falling income as a result of the economic downturn. As our council tax payers would rightly expect, we are dealing as creatively as we can in reducing administration costs and becoming as efficient as we can be, concentrating resources on front line services.

A good example from many of our measures for greater efficiencies and expected to make significant savings is the creation of a joint service for Revenues and Benefits administration with North Kesteven District Council. Dealing with our extreme financial pressures has involved some difficult decisions.

The council has agreed to the sale of parts of the Lawn complex. The Lawn is not contributing to any of our declared priorities, will impose future maintenance and investment liabilities the council simply cannot afford, and its sale will offer the opportunity for a suitable investor to realise its potential as another jewel in Lincoln’s crown.

Perhaps one of the best bits of news in December was the announcement of the £50 million for the eastern relief road. Along with many other partners we have battled for this for a very long time and it will provide a great catalyst for getting growth going again in the city.

The creation of the new Engineering School, a partnership between Siemens and the University of Lincoln was another terrific boost to the city’s long term prosperity, and we had a bumper year for the Lincoln Christmas Market, which injects a huge amount of money into the local economy.

With seasonal holidays here, it was fantastic to see the opening of the Pathways Centre, which will now provide accommodation and support for the homeless, who are especially vulnerable in the winter months, helping them towards independent living.

The coming year will be full of challenges and opportunities and we plan to meet these with equal vigour. The recession will continue to hit family incomes and we intend to continue with programmes which try and reduce the impact of this for people in Lincoln.

We want see youth unemployment reduced, more affordable houses built, a solution found to the city centre’s infrastructure problems, more invested in energy efficiency measures to help people with fuel costs and reduce our carbon output and our publicly valued CCTV service saved whilst reducing its cost.

We also want to see more robust measures for public consultation and participation in council decision making. We are already consulting to seek your views on the council’s priorities for its next five year Strategic Plan and look forward to hearing from you about this.

Councillor Ric Metcalfe is the Labour Leader of the City of Lincoln Council.