Independent candidate for Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Marianne Overton explains why she wants the role

Marianne Overton stood in a living room in 1990, listening to lorries thunder up and down the road just outside the window.

It was obvious at that point that Leadenham needed a bypass to take the A17 around the village rather than through the middle, but for some reason it hadn’t been built in 32 years.

Marianne began talking to people and organising. She got elected to the parish council and then to North Kesteven District Council.

After a grassroots campaign, the new bypass opened in 1995, by which time Marianne had got a belief in what she called “people power” – the usefulness of getting people in the same room and making them talk.

In the 34 years since she first entered politics, she has become something of an expert on the mechanics of local government.

She is now aiming for the county’s highest office – the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

As an Independent, she doesn’t have the backing of a major political party and the money and organisation that goes along with it.

Her pitch is that she knows all of the movers and shakers in Lincolnshire power structures from more than two decades on the county council – and they know her too.

Whereas others have pitched the new role as a political superhero who can single-handedly solve all of Lincolnshire’s problems, Marianne says she is more of a team player.

“I understand how to make things happen and what makes the system tick. I know where the levers are and how to bring people on board,” she said.

“The power of the mayor is one of convening – bringing different organisations together, focusing on the things that matter.

“The £24m that they will get each year is not much compared to the county council’s budget.

“I’ve chaired a group providing support for families where we got everyone round the table – the voluntary sector, councils, the NHS and police. That’s what you have to do to get things done.

“I’m unique in that I’ve committed to Lincolnshire and representing it, and am able to connect with so many different bodies.

“My husband’s family have farmed this area for generations – I’m rooted here, I have deep connections.”

She has a lengthy CV of committees, organisations and other groups she’s been part of over the last 35 years, including being the national leader of the Independent group on the Local Government Association.

Before that meeting in a living room, Marianne was a science and biology teacher at a secondary school.

“I took the students on a trip to the Brazilian rainforest where we lived in the wild for six weeks, and discovered I quite expeditioning, so I did a lot more to places like Arctic Norway, Yukon and remote parts of Australia.

“Then we had these big local issues and I realised I could use the same skills to tackle them.

“You see something is a problem locally, but often to solve it, you have to work nationally. You have to organise and get local support, and that gives you the mandate to work with government on their behalf.”

Her vision of Lincolnshire is one with a stronger safety net, where council services can keep pace with the growing needs of residents.

She is also the leader of the opposition on North Kesteven District Council, where Independents are the second biggest group.

See also: Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns sets out her case to become mayor

Although Lincolnshire is seen as a blue county, the county has a strong independent tradition – Marianne claims that Independent councillors actually outnumbered Tories recently (although they’re now equal again).

“People are turning away from the big parties and looking for something better. The Tories let us down with the cost of living crisis, and Labour have shocked us over the last year with cuts,” she said.

“When I was first elected Independents leader on the LGA, we were six per cent in the country – now we’re close to 20 per cent, more than the Liberal Democrats.

“Independents aren’t tied to ideology. We’re determined to listen to residents and think carefully, not being tied to anyone else’s coattails.

“It would be such an opportunity to have an Independent mayor who’s not just another party member.”

Marianne becomes most animated talking about solar farms, with ever-larger applications targeting parts of Lincolnshire.

Part of this outrage comes from living on a farm and running a holiday-let business in the countryside.

She describes it as “folly to lock Lincolnshire’s food-growing land out for our lifetimes in expensive, long-term contracts.

“Just under 10,000 acres is proposed in my area – that’s the same size as the city of Lincoln! It needs to be on roof space, not farmland.

“I’ve made the case directly to Ed Miliband on this. I’m not sure he was entirely listening, but I’m confident we will get there in the end because the case is so strong.”

She says it’s just a matter of people power.