Ric Metcalfe

By Ric Metcalfe City of Lincoln Council Leader

It has often been said that small businesses are the ‘lifeblood’ of our economy, both nationally and locally. It is most certainly true here in Lincoln where more that 80% of our businesses are small businesses and, since the recession, there have been an increasing number of people turning to self employment and the creation of their own business. They deserve all the help we can give them.

As the Federation of Small Businesses Manifesto for the 2015 Election quite rightly says: “Small businesses have a huge amount to offer. They are agile and create jobs faster and in larger numbers than any other kind of organisation can, with an army of small businesses in every region and every sector. They are the very fabric of our communities, helping small businesses helps society.”

It is certainly true that a much larger proportion of the wealth created by small local businesses finds its way back into the local economy.

Again this year on Small Business Saturday, on December 6, we take the opportunity to support, inspire and promote small businesses in the city. The City Council will be joining with a range of other partners to celebrate the contribution of small businesses and demonstrate how we can all help them thrive.

The City Council has an established small business support team in City Hall and it is proactive in dealing with enquiries, offering advice and support and signposting small businesses to sources of help.

The council has also for some years provided managed workspaces which enable small businesses to establish and grow. These provide small workspaces with excellent professional office facilities and help reduce overheads in the first crucial months of getting a new small business established. The flexible “month in month out” rental agreements are a real help in avoiding over burdensome commitments whilst the business gets established.

As with many other large public sector organisations, the City Council purchases a substantial quantity of goods and services. With our Procurement Lincolnshire partners we look to make it as easy as possible for small local firms to win contracts to provide these so that we optimise the benefits of that purchasing power for the local economy.

The council also administers the small business rate relief scheme and granted some £1.86 million rate relief this year. The retail relief rate introduced this year can benefit retail businesses with a rateable value of below £50,000. We have already granted £360,000 relief this year.

There are other reliefs available such as the re-occupation relief, where if a firm occupies a property which has been empty for over 12 months and when last used was a retail business, they can receive a 50% discount for a period of 18 months.

We were delighted that the Lincoln Business Improvement Group (BIG) were again supported by businesses in the city and will now be able to build on all the excellent work they have done so far.

Last, and by no means least, the City Council organises the annual Christmas Market in the city, which provides a fantastic opportunity for all the smaller local businesses to benefit from the 250,000 potential customers who come to the city to experience the market.

Along with our partners locally, we have published a new Growth Plan for the city which sets out the challenges and the opportunities facing Lincoln over the next 20 years or so.

There is no doubt that small businesses have a central role to play in the future success and prosperity of Lincoln. We must do everything we can to help them succeed.

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

By Ric Metcalfe City of Lincoln Council Leader

More than 2,700 people are registered on our council house waiting list, with people now waiting up to seven years to get a house. This list continues to grow, showing the urgent need for more affordable housing.

For many low-income households in the city buying a house just isn’t an option. Once you’ve added together the necessary deposit, increasing house prices and the conditions needed to qualify for a mortgage, buying is out of the question for most people in the city.

People are being forced to turn to the increasingly expensive private rental sector to meet housing needs.

The housing market hasn’t delivered enough affordable housing to rent or buy. Completions of housing built by the private sector last year were 222 and only nine of those were affordable.

The City Council are taking a whole range of actions. We’re continuing to press for the development of the Western Growth Corridor as a Sustainable Urban Extension involving up to 3,000 new homes.

We’re also continuing to use our Section 106 powers to make sure at least a proportion of new homes built by the private sector are affordable.

We are having a blitz on empty homes in private ownership to seek to brink back as many of these into active use to rent or to buy.

We are continuing to offer mortgage support to enable first time buyers to get their first foot on the housing ladder.

But we think the only way to make significant progress now, given the market’s failure to provide affordable housing, is to start directly building houses ourselves.

The council’s Executive Committee last night (June 16) agreed a Municipal House Building Programme – a £15 million investment that will create more than 150 new council homes over the next six years.

We can build these homes through the Housing Revenue Account, which is where the rental income we receive on our existing 8,000 council properties goes.

We intend to build as many as we can afford to, and we want to build them to a good standard, particularly in terms of energy efficiency, not only so they are affordable in terms of rent but also affordable to run from an energy consumption point of view.

Initially, we’re looking to build a type of housing that we know will meet the needs of some of the people who are currently under-occupying existing council housing.

We may concentrate on properties such as bungalows and flats so we can free up larger accommodation for some of the people who we know are waiting to be housed in two, three or four bedroom properties.

In the longer term, we’re exploring the possibility of setting up some form of new partnership that will enable us to undertake a more ambitious programme.

By working with a developer or other organisation we can provide additional investment and resources that the council alone cannot afford.

There is nothing more important than a good home to people’s health and well being which is why this is at the top of the Council’s list of priorities.

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