South Holland and Deepings MP Sir John Hayes vows to fight for fairer funding for Lincolnshire

Ever since 100 Saxons comprising the Wapentake gathered around Moulton’s Elloe Stone, local governance has informed civil society. Then as now, local authority to fulfil popular needs lay at the heart of local government.

Naturally, since those far off times, local councils have evolved. Nevertheless, the relationship between political power and its effect on a locality remains as significant as ever.

The days when what local authorities spend was all collected locally are long gone. So, given the significance of central Government support, it is important that the specific challenges faced by rural counties must be recognised.

Lincolnshire receives funding through a Government formula. Last week, the 2023/24 Local Government Finance Settlement, and a similar settlement for Police Funding, were announced in Parliament. These detail money essential to ensuring that our police can do their job, and our local authorities can do theirs.

Yet, as has been the case for years, the characteristic needs of rural Lincolnshire seem to have been beyond Whitehall’s, too-crudely designed, funding formula. It is apparent there needs to be a substantive change.

I gather the formulas are being revised, with an imminent consultation. A change that I have argued for over many years now seems likely.

This refinement of local government finance must give greater weight to Lincolnshire’s particularities. Our county needs further long-term funding to maintain and improve its infrastructure. Because local farmers’ and growers’ produce fills shops’ shelves across the country, our roads carry goods that serve the national interest. So, the improvement and repair of Lincolnshire roads is an essential national priority.

Similarly, Lincolnshire’s constabulary needs more resources. Our police force will be granted £198 per-person in Lincolnshire. This compares unfavourably with the amount allocated to both neighbouring counties – Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire with £226 and £210 respectively – and the national average. Given which, it is unsurprising that our Chief Constable, who I met at the end of last week to agree a way forward, has raised the alarm with the Government, declaring: “I fully appreciate the enormous fiscal challenge the Government has at this present time and the commitment to amending the Core Grant formula. However, this is unlikely to have any impact before Lincolnshire Police hit the cliff edge leaving no option but to drastically reduce police officer numbers.”

I want a fair funding deal for Lincolnshire. To which end, in the last seven days, I have raised the issue with the Minister for Local Government in the House of Commons; written to the Policing Minister; met our Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner; and I am leading a delegation of Lincolnshire MPs to emphasise the unacceptable impact of these funding allocations.

Our area has many virtues, but when it comes to Government funding, it is particularly disadvantaged by its geography, demography, and topography. The challenges they present will only be met with a funding formula that is sophisticated enough to address those peculiar needs.

Fair funding means taking full account of Lincolnshire’s sparsity, rurality, and scale, and their consequences for delivering and accessing public services.

Here in South Holland, we have been blessed recently. The success of our bid for funds to replace Spalding’s Castle Sports Centre is very good news. However, fair funding means more than project-based money. The certainty of long-term financial support will allow the maintenance of our roads, the enhancement of local towns and villages, and adequate resources for Lincolnshire police.

For too long, an emphasis on metropolitan places has left our county short changed. It’s time to alter that for good. So please back my campaign for fair funding by sending your messages of support directly to davieshm@parliament.uk, or via the Lincolnshire Free Press.