July 2020 Minutes
A meeting of the Parish Council was held on Monday 13th July 2020 by video conferencing and commenced at 19:30.
Public Participation
There were 2 members of the public present. A resident requested an update on the application to Fields in Trust and was advised that the application was in the process of being completed.
Present: Councillor Buckley-Jones (Chairman)
Councillor Briscoe
Councillor Chantler
Councillor Sockell
Councillor Lee
Councillor George
Councillor Cann
Councillor Dziadkiewicz
Councillor Rushby
District Councillor Carrington
District Councillor Tinsley
Co-Clerk Finance: J. James
Co Clerk Operations E. Salter
49/M/20 Chairman’s welcome.
The Chairman welcomed those present and thanked them for coming.
50/M/20 To receive Apologies for Absence, Declarations of Interest and Requests for
Dispensations.
Apologies for Absence:
Apologies received from Councillor Nicklin and District Councillor Goodwin.
Declarations of Interest: There were no Declarations of Interest.
Requests for Dispensations: There were no Requests for Dispensations.
51/M/20 To approve notes as minutes from the meeting of the Parish Council on 8th June 2020 and the Recreation Advisory Forum on 22nd June 2020.
The notes having been distributed before the meeting were taken as read and it was resolved to approve them as minutes.
Planning Matters
Tree works received from NKDC.
There were no Tree Work application notices received.
Tree works decision notices received from NKDC.
There were no Tree Works decision notices received from NKDC.
Planning applications received from NKDC.
52/M/20 20/0715/HOUS 12 Park Lane, Heighington, Lincoln LN4 1RF. Erection of single storey front extension with porch. Members had no comments to make regarding this application.
53/M/20 20/0773/FUL Jean Mary, Acre Dyke Lane, Branston Booths LN4 1JD. Erection of commercial unit. Members had no comments to make regarding this application
54/M/20 20/0759/HOUS Orchard House, 25 Sheppards Close, Heighington, Lincoln. Erection of a brick and block frontage wood store. Members had no comments to make regarding this application Planning application decision notices received from NKDC
55/M/20 20/0187/FUL 16 Washingborough Road, Heighington, Lincoln. Extensions and alterations to existing dwelling and erection of 2 dwellings. Notification received from North Kesteven District Council that this application has been refused.
20/0361/LBC Stone House, Mill Lane, Heighington, Lincoln. Replacement garage door. Notification received from North Kesteven District Council that the application has been approved.
20/0447/HOUS 65 Washingborough Road, Heighington, Lincoln LN4 1QW. Erection of single storey rear extension to existing garage. Notification received from North Kesteven District Council that the application has been approved.
56/M/20 Clerk’s Report (for information only).
• To note that the Village Sign has been painted.
• To note that the bus shelter has been cleaned and painted.
• Email received from the Motor Caravanners Club Ltd, requesting use of field and pavilion.
• To note that Came and Co Insurers have noted that the outside area of Station Road is being used and internal weekly checks continue. Potterhanworth Road is being checked and cleaned and Jubilee Hall is checked daily.
• To note that the Pavilions will be cleaned on a weekly basis as from the 6th July 2020.
• VAT claim of £2683.20 submitted to HMRC 6th July 2020
57/M/20 Correspondence (Read file for Members’ perusal).
• Environmental Operative reports, March, April, May and June 2020.
• Letter from the Neighbourhood Policing Team.
• Public Notice re speed limit Fen Road, Heighington, Lincoln
• Letter received from Anglian Water re Lincoln to Ancaster water pipeline.
• Update on the Lincoln Eastern bypass.
Financial Matters:
58/M/20 To approve the monthly accounts for June 2020. The monthly statements were approved by the four bank signatories. It was resolved to approve the monthly accounts for June 2020.
59/M/20 To consider the re-opening and use of the lounge area at Station Road Pavilion.
After a brief discussion it was agreed to reopen the Pavilion as from the 14th July 2020. Antibac spray and paper towels are to be provided. It will be the responsibility of the users to clean and sanitise where appropriate. Social distancing, in line with government guidelines, must always be adhered to.
60/M/20 To consider the hire charges for use of the Pavilions and grounds.
It was agreed that the hire charges for use of pavilions and grounds will be on a pro-rata basis.
61/M/20 To consider the three quotations received for the deep cleaning of Jubilee Hall.
Members noted the quotations received and agreed to proceed with GCS Cleaning for the deep clean of the Jubilee Hall.
62/M/20 To receive and update on S106, Garretts Rise.
Members noted that negotiations were ongoing.
63/M/20 To consider to delegate arrangements of the children and young people’s summer activities to the Co-Clerks in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The Co-Clerk (Operations) was tasked, in consultation with the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, with organising summer holiday activities for children and young people. The amount in the budget was £500.00. The Parish Council resolved to authorise such expenditure as necessary for activities during the summer holidays.
64/M/20 To consider whether to temporarily delegate certain administrative functions to Office Staff during the August recess. During August there will be no routine meeting of the Parish Council. The Chairman reminded Councillors that staff will be on holiday at various times during the recess period and advised ringing to check that the office is staffed before visiting. Bank signatories were also reminded to let the Co-Clerk (Finance) know of their holiday dates. Councillors resolved to delegate any necessary decisions to the Co-Clerk in consultation with the three committee Chairmen and the Parish Council Chairman before actioning
65/M/20 To receive reports from County and District Councillors (for information only).
County Councillor Ron Oxby:
Annual General Meeting of the Council, 26/06/2020 service updates
The gradual easing of full lockdown arrangements and changing guidance, is in fact the beginning of a new phase, rather than an end to the situation. Lincolnshire has weathered the virus well to date, and much better than many other parts of the country. The overall infection rate has held steady at a little under 150 cases per 100,000 people. The England average was 276 cases per 100,000 people – almost double the rate of our county. But sadly, this has still resulted in great costs to local people. Most notably of course, the loss of 141 loved ones. Around 1,147 people are known to have been infected in Lincolnshire, as we have all made sacrifices to help control this disease and protect those most vulnerable.
The impact on local businesses in particular will be felt for some time - we must recognise the last few months have undoubtedly been some of the toughest they will ever have faced. As well as helping businesses access financial support, including government loans and grants, Business Lincolnshire has helped companies diversify, operate differently and reopen safely. Although most of our leisure and tourism sector remains closed, we will continue to help them through this period until they can welcome visitors back. Of the 288 care homes in Lincolnshire, 71 have reported an outbreak to date. That is around 1 in 5 of our care homes compared to outbreak rates of nearly twice that in nearby rural counties.
Our schools have managed to continue to provide care for the most vulnerable pupils, and children of keyworkers, across the county. This has helped keep children and young people safe, as well as meaning that critical services could continue.
Over 3060 pupils on average attended schools each day up until the end of May. Wider, careful re-opening of schools in differing capacities has seen 17,000 pupils return to schools to date.
I know you will have chosen particular good causes in your areas to support through our councillors' community fund. This will have enabled many community groups and charities to go on past the initial response and continue to operate.
The county council will be at the forefront of Lincolnshire's recovery. This includes the local implementation of the NHS 'test and track' system, where we will work with partners to spot any increase in infection rates, and take appropriate action.
This will hopefully avoid any larger scale outbreaks which could lead to a need for targeted lock down measures in the worst affected areas.
And of course we will continue to offer support where it is needed, providing our services in safe and effective ways, keeping residents informed along the way.
Children's services response to Covid-19
During the pandemic Children's Services has adapted to ensure that the critical services keeping young people and their families safe continue to be delivered effectively.
In addition, some staff have volunteered for very challenging new roles, including redeployment to our new Wickenby Children's Home, which was opened in response to the pandemic.
We are now reviewing how effective our new ways of working that have been, and whether any of these elements could help enhance future service delivery.
Schools
During the pandemic, the vast majority of Lincolnshire schools have remained open to vulnerable children and those of key workers. And over the last couple of weeks, we have seen an increasing number of pupils returning, with 324 schools having now re-opened to children in Reception and Years 1, 6, 10 and 12. We are now seeing over 17,000 children attending school, yet in the past month we have had only four schools with confirmed cases of coronavirus. These all appear to be isolated cases, and there are no indications of an 'outbreak' at any local school. We continue to work closely with schools to help them maintain a safe environment and support the phased return of further pupils over the coming months. Schools have done all they can to support online learning at home, but, even so, young people in Lincolnshire have lost hours of education and this is of huge concern. So I am delighted that the government has announced £1bn of funding to help pupils catch-up on the work that they have missed. We look forward to receiving further details on the programme, so we can work with schools to use this funding to help our children most effectively.
I was also pleased to see the government will continue to provide free food vouchers for families during the summer holidays, which will help many during these difficult times. Finally, I would like to reassure people that we continue to work with the LEP, colleges and schools to support those young people hoping to move into an apprenticeship or go on to further education this year. Our young people are our future and we will ensure they get the support they need.
School transport
The need for social distancing has also presented significant challenges for our schools transport team, and we continue to ask parents to transport children to school themselves if possible.
We are currently transporting around 1,200 children to school. This is far less than the 18,000 children we usually transport, but, even so, it is not easy finding sufficient vehicles because of the need for social distancing. Even with a reduction of the 2 metre distancing rule to 1 metre, it will still be difficult for the team to find enough vehicles under the present circumstances.
Mental health support teams
Good progress has been made on our mental health support teams pilot in the Lincoln and Gainsborough areas.
The project gives young people and their families access to a range of mental health and emotional wellbeing support through schools and colleges. Our trainees are currently working with a small number of young people remotely, and should be fully operational by January 2021. In addition, we have provisional confirmation that our bid for new teams in the Boston and Skegness areas has been successful, meaning thousands more will receive support.
Troubled Families programme
Colleagues will remember that some years ago we launched the Troubled Families programme. Complementing the work of our early help team and Future 4 Me, the programme has made a real difference to thousands of families facing complex challenges, giving them the right help at the right time. In fact, the National Families Unit has said that we were the most successful area in the region, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of both our staff and the families themselves. Phase two of the programme ended in March, and, due to our success, funding has now been extended for a further year.
Public health nursing
Despite the lockdown, Lincolnshire's health visitors have continued to visit families with new-borns, offering tailored support. Children's and young people's nurses have also been providing support where needing, including to families shielding children with complex health issues. We continue to work with multi-agency colleagues through some of our children's centres, and have embraced new technology to support families in different ways.
Special schools project
Looking ahead, progress continues on the special schools project, with construction underway at the relocated Boston special school. Pre-construction work has been undertaken at the Willoughby Academy in Bourne and The Eresby School in Spilsby, while design and remodelling work has continued via video conferencing.
School places and admissions
Over the last 8 years, the council has invested £92m to create 8,000 additional places at primary and secondary schools. Now, over £3m more has been invested in 300 extra secondary school places for the next academic year, with over £4m allocated towards an additional 400 secondary school places by 2022. Again this year, over 90% of those applying for a primary or secondary school place received their first choice.
Adult Care and Public Health
We have ensured a close working relationship with our care homes since the pandemic began to give them the support they need. Our teams have established a full programme of training and support to care homes in Lincolnshire for Infection Prevention Control through our health protection team and NHS partners. A Covid-19 hospital discharge pathway is clearly established so that all those leaving hospital are tested before any placement is agreed. Whilst numbers of residents with suspected Covid-19 increased over previous months as expected, it has never exceeded more than 2% of all residents in Lincolnshire are homes, demonstrating the effectiveness of infection control measures. We have established the Covid-19 Community Response Partnership, working with colleagues from district councils and the Wellbeing Service to target support to Lincolnshire residents and those identified as clinically or extremely vulnerable by the NHS. A care home resilience plan has also been produced, highlighting the comprehensive support from all agencies. We have received £10.45m funding from government as part of a £600m national pot for supporting care homes with infection control. Based on national guidelines, 75% of this has been paid direct to care homes, while we are working on the best way to support domiciliary care providers in the county with the remaining 25%. All the funding will help us to reduce and prevent coronavirus outbreaks and protect residents.
Over 70% of care homes have applied for coronavirus test kits through the new testing portal launched by the government some weeks ago. Vulnerable people over 65 have been prioritised initially. Our reablement service continues to provide a high quality service. From January to March 2020 65% of all people who received a reablement service did not require any ongoing services. We temporarily stood down this function to enable our provider, Libertas, to support with discharges to home during the Covid-19 pandemic. Funding is in place to modify provision in our twelve homecare zones to further support our service users. This includes a new 30 minute minimum call for all personal care and a new Floating Support Team established by each of our providers working together. The Wellbeing Service has had to change and develop the way it provides services to support those who are most vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic. Working as part of the countywide community response, two distinct new teams respond to vulnerable residents and those deemed extremely clinically vulnerable, or 'shielded'. It means effective support to those with a range of needs who need to self-isolate. The core Wellbeing Response Service has continued unchanged. Performance has remained good with 96% of callers contacted within 60 minutes, and 82% within 45 minutes. Responders are now based within the county council's fire stations, ensuring a timely response to those in need, generally following a fall at home.
Lincolnshire has been selected to be the Rural Strategic Partner for the government's Centre for Ageing Better programme – one of only three in the country. Working with district council, health and business partners, the idea is that by 2040, more people in later life will be in good health, financially secure, have social connections and feel their lives are meaningful and purposeful. We are developing a work programme to secure the best outcomes and opportunities for Lincolnshire people approaching later life.
NHS Liaison and Community Engagement
During this time, we have carried our first County Views survey, which will now be taking place three times per year, on behalf of all councils in Greater Lincolnshire. From 662 responses, 81% of people agreed that their local area is a great place to live. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the issue respondents would most like to see improved is 'Road networks and highway maintenance'. Although the number of respondents was not especially high given the current circumstances, the initial survey gives us a starting point to go forward and the results will help us to monitor progress against the aims of the corporate plan. The results are now available on the council website and make an interesting read.
I'm sure by now you are all aware of the monthly town and parish council newsletter we send to 366 town and parish councils across Lincolnshire. Engagement with this newsletter is increasing every month, and this is developing into a really useful tool to keep them up to date with council news and activity. HealthWatch Lincolnshire has been inviting people to share their views on the impact of Covid-19 on their health and wellbeing, and engaging widely. The preliminary findings were presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board on 9 June and the weekly reports summarising the public responses can be found on the HealthWatch Lincolnshire website. The findings are being used to support the LRF's intelligence gathering from the pandemic, but also the Health and Wellbeing Board's future focus.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) has approved a plan to create a largely COVID-free site at Grantham and District Hospital for this next phase of the pandemic, where they will carry out more chemotherapy sessions, cancer surgeries and other elective surgeries for patients from across Lincolnshire.
We are pleased to confirm that the NHS Lincolnshire CCG was formally established on 1 April 2020, completing the merger of the four former CCGs. John Turner has been appointed as Chief Executive and I can now tell you that Sean Lyons has taken up the position of Chair of the CCG Governing Board. This will give a more joined up approach to health service provision both during these challenging times, and in the longer-term.
Economy and Place
Since the start of the lockdown, the services that we commission have provided one-to-one advice to 596 businesses. This has included help to diversify or to provide services differently so they can keep operating in the toughest of trading environments.
The Business Lincolnshire website has been a valuable source of current support for the business community with around 4500 individual users accessing information on the site. Developers and contractors provided photos, videos, documentation and testing certificates so the team could check works are up to standard and conditions were being met, without having to physically attend sites.
We have worked with district and unitary councils, who have allocated more than £200m of grants to businesses.
We have worked with organisations like the Chamber of Commerce, banks and accountants, who have all run online webinars on subjects as diverse as wellbeing for employers and managing insurance claims.
Our Team Lincolnshire ambassador programme, has started weekly "Team Lincolnshire Cares" webinars which are greatly appreciated by its members.
Last month this was strengthened further when Rutland County Council joined the Greater Lincolnshire LEP and North and North Lincolnshire councils committing to sole membership. They were previously also part of Humberside's LEP.
To get our economy on track in Lincolnshire, it's important that we continue with our key investments.
Tourism will need to be re-launched in a considered and managed way which generates much-needed revenue for businesses, whilst not overwhelming local services. We will also shortly be starting to build the roadway in Skegness Business Park so that it can be opened up to employers in sectors which will help to diversify the coastal economy. Work has continued over the last few months to complete the flood investigations opened across Lincolnshire from the months of heavy rainfall from June to November.
At present there remain around 150 open investigations, and the council continues to work within the current restrictions to conclude these and to seek solutions for those affected residents.
The investigation into flooding in the Wainfleet area was completed early this year. £150,000 has been allocated to support implementation of urgent measures accordingly.
We have also completed and published a long term action plan with partners for this catchment, to ensure we invest this money to the best possible effect.
Our flood alleviation scheme at Digby began last month as part of our capital scheme and we will also be trialling a new scheme across Lincolnshire giving householders access to resilience measures for their properties.
Culture and Emergency Services
Services have adapted amazingly well with many of our heritage and culture services offered virtually, including story times, online Q&A sessions and the virtual hosting of VE Day celebrations.
Libraries, although physically closed, did a roaring trade. Compared to last year, the number of new members joining the library service increased by 712% in April and 225% in May. EBook issues were up 223% and 345% across the two months and there were large increases in the number of e-magazines and e-newspapers as well as the amount of music streamed through the portal.
We will be ready to reopen libraries on 13th July with 60% current opening hours, 'takeaway' service for books (no browsing for now – phone or click to reserve, then collect) and limited pc use by public. Access service ready to roll with two weeks' notice, full mobile service 4 weeks after that. Review at the beginning of August with a view to support community hubs opening. The next phase of core libraries opening will create areas for limited browsing. Heritage- building on the success of the reopening of the grounds and Wall Walks at Lincoln Castle, we will be ready to open some of the other sites on 13th July (if screens installed in time and PPE arrives). We will open the rest of Lincoln Castle's offer, The Collection (not necessarily 7 days a week), Archives (3-4 days a week), BBMF (3-4 days a week). Staff from the MLL, The Usher Gallery. Learning Team will be temporarily reallocated to ensure additional staff at those sites opening 13th July to ensure public confidence in adherence to social distancing, one way systems etc. Subject to how opening goes and any changes in government advice we'll review every four weeks with anticipated opening of other sites for the October half term.
The consultation on the Usher Gallery is ongoing as we speak and the initial report from the consultants is due at the end of this month.
Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue (LFR) Pre-Covid:
key achievements
We have continued to strengthen our relationships with emergency services colleagues - the fire control room has now successfully re-located to our Police & Fire headquarters at Nettleham, supporting our drive for even closer collaboration between emergency services in the county.
We have continued to receive applications from the community to become on-call firefighters:
We have welcomed your thoughts and feedback on our community plan:
• We have completed the consultation with the public and stakeholders on our Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) – also known as Our Community Planwhich outlines our key risks to our communities and the organisation itself. This will be used as a basis for how we mitigate these risks, how we use our resources to give the best results and make Lincolnshire safer, stronger and more resilient. Throughout the COVID period:
• I'm pleased to be able to report that during the exceptional challenges of the last few months, our fire cover has remained strong and many fire crews have gone above and beyond in supporting their local communities.
• 12 firefighters also trained with East Midlands Ambulance Service to be able to support their response to Covid-19 if necessary, such as driving urgent care vehicles and safely moving patients.
• The fire prevention team have continued to support vulnerable people across the county, with advocates giving telephone advice and providing Safe and Well visits to the most vulnerable.
Registration and Coroners Services
Birth registration is being reintroduced. Death registrations are being completed by telephone. Notices of Marriage are being reintroduced. These are currently being completed at Lincoln only with other offices being able to take notices as soon as possible. Wedding ceremonies in July are being checked and staffing is being arranged. Ceremonies in August are being contacted to both confirm attendance and arrange necessary legal preliminaries. All ceremonies will be subject to 2 metre social distancing and those in Registration offices will also be converted into standard ceremonies to ensure that they are completed in the given timescale. All licenced venues are being contacted to ensure that registration staff maintain a 2 metre distance from couples and guests.
Commercial and Environmental Management
Waste Services
Pre- Covid
It's been a really interesting year and continued to work hard with our partners to deliver the best for the residents of the county.
Lincolnshire Waste Partnership continues to go from strength to strength. We have continued with our food waste trial with South Kesteven. The separate Paper and Card collection trial, which involved 7,500 homes in the county, has been a great success. There has been a high level of public participation and satisfaction and very good quality material recovered. Over 240 tonnes of clean and dry paper and card going to a paper mill in Kings Lynn – being repurposed into paper and card.
• We have teamed up with our district council colleagues in a national campaign to SCRAP flytipping.
• We've processed the millionth tonne of waste at our EFW plant – We're now landfilling well below 4% of total household waste.
• Just before Covid struck, we awarded a new recycling contract to local processor Mid-UK, which will sort our mixed recyclables for the next five years.
During Covid
• During the emergency, I am pleased to say Waste Services have maintained operations at the waste transfer stations to support household collections which suffered minor disruptions but are now returning to normal.
• I'm delighted to welcome a number of redeployed LCC staff into the service to help us keep 'business as usual'.
• We closed the recycling centres at the height of the pandemic in line with government advice to avoid non-essential journeys, but I'm delighted to say they have now reopened. To make the process safer for residents and staff, a new 'Click and Tip' booking system has been introduced. To the middle of June, almost 40,000 bookings had been taken for the 11 sites. Public reaction has been fantastic, and we aim to keep the new system, albeit more technically advanced, in place.
• The EFW maintained a full level of service for the county's waste, as did our recycling processing service delivered by Mid-UK. Therefore, waste and recycling collections and processing in Lincolnshire maintained a good level of service during the crisis.
• It is not yet clear how Covid-19 has affected the Government's timetable for introducing the new policies contained in the Resources & Waste Strategy and whether promises of future funding can be maintained due to the economic impact of the crisis and the predicted recession.
Moving forward
• We need to improve the quality of recycling across the county, so will be working hard to address this
• We'll seek to add more functionality and update the click and tip booking system – making it even easier for residents to use.
• We've seen the environmental and economic benefits of the paper and card separate collections – so look to begin to roll this out further in spring 2021.
• We are looking to find the best processes and assets for the service in a way which reduces our carbon emissions and gives the best value for tax payers
• We continue to develop more robust plans for commercial waste.
• We continue to work with our partners to crack down on flytipping in the county.
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership
• We are working with our Greater Lincolnshire partners looking at planning, energy use and transport to ensure we do our best for nature across the county.
• Covid has reminded us once again how important our open spaces are – both for our emotional and physical wellbeing. When we could, we opened up our car parks in the Coastal Country Park to allow local people enjoy and exercise on our beautiful coastline.
Sustainability
• Our sustainability team has been leading the creation of a green master plan for the Council and our partners. We've adopted a target of net carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as a range of targets to meet this aspiration by local authorities across Lincolnshire, so we are looking at new and innovative ways to deliver our services, and how we can support and lead our communities in moving to a more sustainable future.
• The council's sustainability team has taken the opportunity presented by Covid to embrace and promote the benefits of remote working. We've continued to develop the technical evidence base underpinning the green masterplan while preparing for formal consultation with our partners to create the first draft of the plan.
• One of the most important elements of the plan will be to understand and sustain some of the positive impacts of Covid, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, more sustainable use of transport and greater use of remote working. All of these will contribute significantly to a permanent reduction in emissions, as well as embedding more sustainable working practices with wider environmental, economic and health benefits for our communities overall.
Community Safety and People Management
Safer Communities-Prevention, Protection, Partnerships
Our innovative 'Safer Together' partnership with Lincolnshire Police has become well established over the last year. Although recent redeployments from both organisations to support our response to the pandemic have impacted on our joint working, we remain committed to working together to address such matters as illegal trading, and persistent and harmful offending; to provide safety messages to schools, and; to support victims of scams and fraud.
Trading Standards
Lincolnshire Trading Standards welcomed four new Trading Standards Officers to their ranks back in January.
Trading Standards have worked closely with Lincolnshire Police and our district council colleagues to support businesses that could continue to operate safely, and ensure compliance with the government's regulations to help stop the spread of the virus. We have also continued in the fight against scams. As fraudsters attempted to cash-in on the coronavirus outbreak, our Trading Standards service has continued to issue warnings and advice about the latest scams to residents and businesses.
Community Safety
In the Community Safety Team, we welcomed a new co-ordinator in January who assumed lead responsibility for Reducing Offending and Modern Slavery. "Learning from the Experience of Large-Scale Modern Slavery in Lincolnshire".
We were also successful in securing additional Government funding of £187,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop the county's accommodation options for victims of domestic abuse even further.
And since being set up in 2015, the Stay Safe Partnership has now engaged with over 160,000 pupils across Lincolnshire on anti-social behaviour, alcohol awareness, drug awareness, healthy relationships, internet safety, fire safety and road safety. The team also prepared resources for parents and carers who found themselves home-schooling their children when schools closed earlier this year.
Apprenticeships
As of 20 May, the total number of apprentices on roll is 192, with a levy allocation of £1.6m. Just over 44% of training provision is being delivered by local providers. A number of our apprentices have been able to finish their apprenticeships early, due to their continued focus and the support and dedication of their line manager and their apprentice training provider.
25 of the 192 apprentices are currently on a break from their learning, due to them being redeployed to help with the response to Covid-19, or due to ill health. The HR service is working closely with those apprentices and the providers to agree the best time for them to return to their programmes.
Highways, Transport and IT
Undeniably the impacts of Covid-19 on the transport network has been huge. Public transport operators – particularly bus operators – have been particularly badly affected as passenger numbers have collapsed. We're working very closely with this industry to try to support them as much as we can.
We have been allocated around £1m from government to improve the way our towns and city operate, to support more walking and cycling. We're working with our district, town and parish council colleagues on plans to ensure whatever changes we deliver are effective.
There is an opportunity to do things differently and make Lincolnshire operate differently, particularly around commuting and shorter journeys. I'm pleased to see the uptake in walking and cycling, and if we can capitalise on that then we will see significant differences to the way our transport networks operate, in particular around those shorter, 1 to 3 mile journeys.
On the £100m Lincoln Eastern Bypass scheme, unfortunately work did have to pause at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak whilst social distancing measures were introduced. But I'm pleased to say that work subsequently started up again, helped by dryer weather, and I'm confident the road will reopen before the end of the year. Work on the Grantham Southern Relief Road managed to continue on site despite the onset of Covid-19, and work has taken place to tunnel under the A1.
Both of these schemes will unfortunately see cost increases due to the coronavirus, but it is not known at this stage by exactly how much.
Work started on the archaeology on the northern section of the five part Spalding Western Relief Road scheme, with construction due to start in the autumn. Detailed designs are ongoing for the remainder of the project.
The Lincolnshire Coastal Highway project is very much about connected both sides of the county. We have a series of schemes underway already – such as on the A46 to the north of Lincoln – but we are will also be rolling out a multi-year programme which will include a variety of road improvements and footways and cycleways along that route.
On the Riseholme Roundabout on the A46, we are working to increase capacity, by making the roundabout bigger and allowing traffic to flow more freely.
Further along the A46, the notorious accident blackspot at the Dunholme/Welton junction will be replaced with a brand new roundabout, after securing funding from national government. We're looking to start work here in September.
At the Sleaford Rugby Club Junction, works are underway to signalise the junction coming off the A17, in order to make the connectivity with the A17 work much better, as this is a key linkage in particular into the employment areas in the north of Sleaford.
Parallel works at Holdingham Roundabout have unfortunately been delayed until the middle of February.
Finally at Corringham Junction, works will starts in September and will take around 10 weeks.
District Councillor Ian Carrington:
- NKDC currently conducting a review of licensing policy - parish council comments would be welcome
- NK had passed on to all Parrish councils new Government guidance on re-opening community buildings and playgrounds in the COVID era
- NK had (or was about to) re-open many of its own buildings including leisure centres in Sleaford and North Nykeham, heritage buildings and the National Centre for Craft & Design. However most staff were still working remotely and the Sleaford reception remained closed.
- NK is planning and beginning to implement ‘remobilization’ post-lockdown. But is also giving detailed consideration to longer term future as for to shaping that future, i.e. what do residents need? What does the Council do? How can we best deliver services in the ‘ew normal’. The NK plan was being reassessed and would be considered by the Executive Board in the autumn.
District Councillor Glenn Tinsley.
The removal of the temporary bridge across the Witham has been delayed due to nesting Swallows. Work will recommence after the nesting season - probably in about 6 weeks.
Staff Matters.
66/M/20 Closed Session.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 20.36 hours.