News from County Councillor Rob Kendrick
Council meetings now talking place
The first full council meeting has been held. This was the meeting when appointments to councillor held roles were formally approved. This included the executive councillor roles (sometimes called Cabinet posts in other places) and chairmanship of committees.
I noted that unlike the previous administration the new one has not given a chairmanship to the official opposition. It is still early days for new councillors to settle into their roles bearing in mind only a very few have ever been councillors before. However, I observed confusion at one meeting during an item regarding the council’s response to the application for the Springwell Solar farm.
The chairman of the Planning Committee wanted a deferment saying he wanted more time to study the papers which formed the council’s response to the application. Whilst the decision for this rests with the Secretary of State, the council is consulted by the Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. The Chief Planning Officer had to step in to point out that having deferment would mean that the council missed the deadline for responding to the Inspector. The papers had been issued a week before in accordance with normal procedures. The officer recommendation was to oppose the application. In the end the item was decided upon to support the recommendation.
Volunteers continue their good work
It was pleasing to hear that work by volunteers from the council’s highways contractors continues to be well received. In recent months they have painted the white gates at the entrances to Walcott . Also, they will be working on the Church Path there.
In Ashby de la Launde they will be erecting gates to the village. Future projects are planned for Digby, Metheringham, Scopwick and Timberland. In recent years they have painted a village hall entrance lobby, laid paving slabs at a hall, cleared overgrown churchyards. I am always happy to submit applications from parish councils for the volunteers.
Pension concerns
There were concerns amongst council staff about the announcement that Reform controlled councils would pull out of membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme to new recruits to the council, as well as giving existing members of the pension scheme a different award. It has since been pointed out to the administration that the pension scheme is governed by law and access to the scheme is a legal right for those that wish to join. Any changes to the scheme, which is a career average scheme, would require national legislative change and would need to go through formal consultation.
Therefore, there will be no change for employees who are members of the scheme without legislative change.
Watch a council meeting from your armchair!
You may recall that in recent years I have pointed out that all our meetings including committee meetings are open to the public and broadcast . This is done via YouTube. I was therefore surprised to see the announcement by the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire that council meetings would in future be broadcast as of course they already are. This may have prompted a question I was asked recently which was does the Mayor have jurisdiction over the County Council as a sort of higher authority. This is not the case. In fact, she chairs a separate combined body and has no jurisdiction over other authorities .
Getting about
After the election I am once again now getting about attending events around the area. Recently I attended the very popular Quiz Night in Timberland Village Hall. The team I am a member of was joined by our MP Dr Caroline Johnson and her daughter. It was a great night and I am pleased to say we came a respectable third. I am always happy to attend events if I can. They are a good opportunity to meet residents for chat.