I am passionate about local democracy says leader of South Kesteven District Council

We begin a series of interviews with members of the cabinet at South Kesteven District Council following May’s local elections which significantly changed the political make-up of the council.

The cabinet is the council's main decision-making body and is responsible for policy-making and budget setting.

This week we speak with the chairman of the cabinet and leader of the council Councillor Richard Cleaver.

Coun Cleaver, 63, of the Democratic Independent Group, became leader following the local elections. He joined the district council in 2021 after winning a by-election in the Stamford St John’s ward. He is also a county councillor.

His background includes working as a university administrator in London and in IT after moving to Stamford in 1997. He and his wife also ran a pub in Stamford for several years.

You have been leader of the council for a few months now. How would you describe your experience as leader so far?

It’s going really well. The cabinet team is settling in, gelling as a team, working very hard together. They are sharing aspirations, sharing frustrations but always working together as a team. We are really moving forward very effectively so far. There is very much a keeness that having effectively taken control of the council we now have to make it work. People got elected because they wanted to change things irrespective of whether they were running the council or not. So having that extra empowerment from being part of a ruling majority is something they do not want to fail on. There is a lot of postivity out there with people getting in touch saying can we do this, how can we achieve that. It’s really refreshing. Getting people to work together is something you sometimes have to work on, but in this case it’s happening organically because a lot of people are new, fresh and enthusiastic . They have new ideas and there is a buzz about the place.

What are the challenges facing Grantham and what do you aim to achieve for the town?

I think there is possibly less holding Grantham back than other towns in Lincolnshire and that’s where my positivity comes from because I see that Grantham is well placed to launch forward. We will be reaching out to the business community and getting involved in the completion of the town centre schemes which we have government money for. But it just appears that post-Covid nobody has picked it up and started running with it to make the town centre more attractive, vibrant and to make people feel safe in it. It just seems to be waiting to be done. You just pick up that vibe. We need to make sure we manage the growth that is going to come with the all the housing that is planned. We know it’s going to happen so let’s sort out the health services that are needed with that growth. We need to push very hard on that. It’s a real concern for people. We just need to press the start button and start running, if that’s not to be too idealistic about it. We are fighting for the infrastructure. If you look at Grantham Hospital, if you look at further and higher education, Grantham is going to make that step change because of the size of housing growth. Let’s not pretend it isn’t big. That step change means that you start thinking about major improvements to the hospital service, it means you start talking about having a university hub, if not something bigger. You only have to look at how Lincoln University has transformed Lincoln.

What issues need to be resolved in Stamford?

I am more in tune with Stamford having lived here for so long. The issues particularly in Stamford are affordable housing, There is still an issue here for people who are born here and who want to buy their first home here, but cannot afford it and that is a concern. One of my big issues which I am diving deep into is how we can make sure affordable housing schemes really are affordable. When we have that affordable housing agreement on a large estate, if we can’t achieve with that what we need to achieve then we need to be shouting to Michael Gove and the government to change the rules. The other big isue in Stamford is the protection of green space because as our plans stand at the moment and because of Stamford’s strange position with borders on three sides, we are now practically built all the way up to the borders. SK’s Local Plan has very little space to put any more houses above what is already planned, so my argument has always been the green spaces that are left have got to be protected completely and if we can get public access to them then that would be a bonus. We are reliant on tourism. Our manufacturing has gone. It’s naive to think it is coming back. We need to make sure that the sites designated in the plans for employment actually get developed for employment. People want local jobs. We do need that flow of good jobs for people so they don’t have to commute to Peterborough, London or Leicester to have a good job or a well-paid job. There are heritage issues, protecting our conservation area, stopping HGVs going through the town unncessarily or in areas they should not be driving. There is also the issue of the GP service. It’s over two years now since Lakeside was judged to be inadequte. Two more inspections since then and it still requires improvement. There is the issue of patient choice and it’s annoying other politicians will not back having patient choice of GP services. I have not heard any of our local MPs come out and say that. There is on paper a choice because there are three GP surgeries which have Stamford in their catchment area, but it’s not a realistic choice because the two that everyone wants to move to are full.

What are your ambitions for the district council over the next few years?

I am passionate about local democracy, making democracy work and improving people’s lives. Restoring people’ faith in local democracy and in politicians is really important to me because I have spent so much of my lifetime seeing it in decline. Now that I am 63, I would like to restore a bit of faith in something. Democracy only works if you participate and if people are well informed and not ill-informed. If you ever look at my Facebook page or look at my Twitter feed going back two years, most of it is informative and not opinion. I want people to know the truth. I want people to react and participate, so I am absolutely passionate about restoring faith in politicians, it makes democracy work. That’s not particularly aimed at South Kesteven,. But its important because it should also bring a community together. Community cohesion is really really important. People then buy into what needs to be done because they are well informed and know it needs to be done. That’s the way you get away from the divisive politics that we have. There is always more that unites us than divides us. The practical things are that we have to deliver the housing growth, with that has to come economic growth, and at the same time enhancing people’s quality of life. That might sound idealistic but that’s what’s got to happen.

Are we moving away from politics towards a more conciliatory council?

The arguments that aren’t actually important to the people that elected us, I hope will go away. The public wants to hear about the good things we want to do. We want our council tax payers, our residents, to respond to the things we propose to do. I would much rather see many, many more responses to the public consultations that we put out about all sorts of issues, about how we spend our money and how we regulate things, than have lots of public reaction to stories about councillors misbehaving, or councillors saying inappropriate things on Twitter or Facebook. So I think that bits changed. I know you can never take the party politics bit out of it because we have so many party politicians across the chamber so there will always be a certain amount of political banter at full council meetings and that’s inevitable, but I think that will be toned down and I think it will be less personal in terms of what people say to each other across the chamber. And that’s a good thing.