Stamford, Rutland, Bourne and Grantham letter writers share their views with LincsOnline
Readers have been sharing their views on what’s in the news.
Here we share some of the letters, emails and comments that have come in over the week, including this cartoon from John Elson.
Send your letters to: news@lincsonline.co.uk
It is leader’s duty to fight
We were astonished to hear the Liberal Democrat Leader of Rutland County Council, Coun Gale Waller, tell her Cabinet on October 14 that:
“None of us want to see Rutland disappear. We would all prefer Rutland staying as it is and I would remind everybody that when the White Paper came out there was no indication that Rutland would change because the White Paper [on Devolution and Local Government] talked about small failing unitary councils and we were not and are not failing but by the time we got to the letter from the Minister in February with the invitation area we were well and truly included so there was a shift somewhere during that period and so we are where we are and given that we have got to do our very best for Rutland.”
Yet Coun Waller wrote to the Government on January 10, 2025 and told the Labour Minister of State for English Local Government:
“As a region it is recognised by all stakeholders that the Devolution White Paper sets out a once in a generation opportunity for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland which potentially could deliver substantial benefits to local residents. Following initial consideration and engagement there is unanimous in-principle agreement to a Mayoral Strategic Authority linked to local government reorganisation and therefore pathway 2 is our preferred option: LGR [Local Government Reform] needed to unlock devolution.
“To move forward with local government re-organisation at pace, we recognise further work will be required to develop detailed proposals that explore all options. We will need to consider evidence around the critically important relationship between scale and physical geography, understanding that councils perform best when their boundaries reflect the way people live their lives.”
Coun Waller then states her support for enlarging the boundaries of the City of Leicester before stating “On that basis we collectively recognise that we are an area which needs reorganisation to unlock devolution, and we confirm that we will be working together to submit re-organisation proposals to Government by May 2025’ and that ‘the three authorities [Rutland, the City of Leicester and Leicestershire Councils] want to take forward this unique opportunity to progress as quickly as possible towards a Strategic Mayoral Authority once local government reorganisation is delivered”.
The failure of Coun Waller to accurately recall her own actions in writing to the Government asking for Rutland to be included in the Government's stated plans for local government reorganisation on the basis of new super councils is on the one hand frankly astonishing and on the other sadly part of a pattern of an administration that completely failed to inform anyone of their own request for Rutland to be abolished and withheld the same letter – we only know about it because her co-signatories in Leicestershire chose to make it public (as we had every right to expect should have happened in Rutland).
We want the best for Rutland. If Coun Waller was prepared to straightforwardly fight for Rutland, she and her Liberal Democrat colleagues would find no stronger supporters than the Conservative Group.
At no point has this Liberal Democrat administration with Labour support ever told the Labour Government that Rutland does not want to be reorganised – indeed Baroness Berridge of the Vale of Catmose was categorically told in the House of Lords by Labour Minister Baroness Taylor this summer that Rutland had been clear to the Labour Government just how enthusiastic they were for Local Government Reform.
We have consistently said that it is the duty of the leader of Rutland County Council to make the case for Rutland. As she and her colleagues consistently decline to do so we will keep on making the case for Rutland.
The Rutland Conservative Group, Rutland County Council
Where do we fit in?
In response to Alicia Kearns MP’s most recent column, during the local regional government consultation, Rutland’s unitary council tax was found to be the highest in England and remains a "huge concern" to the South Kesteven taxpayers.
Rachel Reeves, the Labour chancellor, makes it clear council taxes are all on the way up, adding more in Rutland.
Leicestershire already knows the Rutland model, and it has the council tax and business base to cope with the unique high Rutland overhead - SKDC does not.
Rutland’s public services are always under more pressure than most authority's, for example the never ending high end adult social care cost that permanently engulfs its low council tax and business base income that swallows up over half its council budget in doing so.
Throw in the very expensive children's services, home to school transport, and massive local library repair costs, and some Rutland residents would truly believe that the SKDC taxpayer would welcome paying for all that?
Alicia Kearns states Rutland residents want to join with South Kesteven. However, we have yet to hear back any consultation results from the, in my view poorly run, South Kesteven District Council online residents consultation, or indeed the very efficient residents’ face-to-face survey held recently in Stamford town centre by Lincolnshire County Council.
The Lincoln County Council LRG consultation proposal offers a much larger wider spread of authorities to be managed all under one roof, surely meaning a bigger volume of council tax and business income base, meaning stability, and low council tax?
Lincolnshire County Council is already run by Reform UK, and if the national polls are to be believed they will also be running the next Government. If so, where does that fit into a predominantly Conservative voting area like Stamford? Will that vote get the ear of the next new PM and cabinet, and help local residents?
Name and address supplied
Roads are better maintained in Rutland
On a recent trip to Exton from Stamford, I couldn’t help but notice how well the roads in Rutland are maintained. Professionally filled pot holes, not the bucket & spade job we see around Stamford, if any! Scotgate intersection please note..
Another fine reason for Stamford to join forces with Rutland council away from the clutches of Lincolnshire highways!
Duncan Lingard
Princes Road, Stamford
Unravelling the farming community
Having spent many hours with my solicitor in trying to unravel the forthcoming tax proposals the government is about to enforce on the farming community, I have come to the conclusion that it will destroy the fabric of farming in this country.
The proposal of taxing people on their assets will undermine the work in progress of farming. The asset is a very valuable tool, however, it cannot be cashed because it is the working tool of the farm. Robbing this will undermine the farm and farming practices and will bring farmers to their knees with bills that are unaffordable. Large charities and trusts escape this tax leaving hard working farmers to pick up the tax.
The whole idea will cost many jobs and lead to many suicides. It is widely known that farmers are more likely to die by suicide due to financial stress and other factors.
The tax will threaten many marginal seats who will turn away from the Labour doctrine. This means a lot of members will lose their seats and jobs.
I hope the member will look closely at this supposed forthcoming bill and try to get Rachel Reeves to abandon the legislation at the cost of many member seats.
The stock farm in the north will never be able to pay off the tax. It will mean slaughter of many large cattle holding and flocks of sheep to try and get out of debt which at the moment looks unlikely. It is reported no holding will ever pay off the debt from the farm business in Scotland as the farm asset is worth more than the profit from these holdings and cannot meet the debt (tax).
The proposed tax could make food production very unstable and rely on more imports and unassured products. One would think food production should be encouraged at all cost. Taking account of the unstable world we live in, I think Labour members should consider all these reasons why this tax will do more harm than good and cost a lot of lives, jobs and Labour seats.
Monty Andrew
Ketton
Bollard cost would have been offset
It is a pity that motorists cannot obey the rules and not drive on the pedestrianised Stamford High Street, requiring expensive retractable bollards, as reported in the October 10 edition of the Mercury.
It must be annoying for the campaigners who believed that the bollards were going to be installed, but the cost would have meant less money for potholes and pavement repairs.
I believe that Lincolnshire County Council is reviewing all it's planned expenditure, and surely Stamford Town Council taxpayers would prefer a prudent approach, rather than simply rubber stamping the previous administration's decisions.
Hopefully some kind of barrier system will be installed in the future, and in the meantime perhaps the police and enforcement officers, (if there are any), can be encouraged to make their presence felt, issuing fixed penalty notices if appropriate.
C Urlwin
Bourne
‘I enjoyed ThatcherFest’
Last week I enjoyed several local ThatcherFest events and learned lots of interesting facts about our famous first female Prime Minister and about how Grantham changed whilst she lived here.
However I was most surprised to learn that there is a mini statue of Margaret Thatcher showing her doing her famous Victory Wave, complete with handbag, when she arrived in Downing Street as Prime Minister. Even more surprising is that this statue, which was presumably funded by local council tax payers, has been hidden away in a local councillor’s office for several years rather than being on display in Grantham Museum.
Surely it is time it was available for all to see as part of the Margaret Thatcher display in the museum, rather than being kept in an office only to be seen by a very select few? Like many other local people, I look forward to seeing this statue again, on public display, in the very near future.
Lynda North
Grantham
And alternative event was great too
I am just writing to say thankyou to everyone who took part and who joined us at 'Margaret Thatcher:Alternative Voices' on Friday, October 17.
A special thanks must go to musicians Simon, alias Billy Blagg, Tom Lane and Paul Dickinson, Last Chance Salon-Gary and Carol, Murray Turner, and there was a surprise performance from Ashley Baxter. Our poets Mike Alderson and Lisa Geary delivered some thought provoking work. Art was on display by Grantham College students. Their work was also filmed by a French TV crew.
All artistes donated their time as we raised funds for Grantham Foodbank.
Thanks too to sound and light engineer Sean and the volunteers at Grantham Museum. A particular thanks to the team in the Guildhall Box Office who were incredibly helpful in the run up to the event.
As the town commemorated Margaret Thatcher and some celebrated her, it was only right to recall there are two sides to her story. It was important that ThatcherFest, organised by South Kesteven District Council, provided a range of views that reflect the impact she made on our society, and still is making. One performer asked if it isn't time to put her to rest? Now there's a thought.
Charmaine Morgan
Grantham town and district councillor
Time to fix the lights?
I was pleased to see that the street lights are being installed on the new east west bypass, I wondered if while the engineers where in the area they could fix the street lights on the A52 at Barrowby as they have not been working for two years.
Keith Harrison
Barrowby
Review of Midget at Mama Liz’s
Stamford gave a rousing welcome home to one of its most successful ever bands at a sold-out Mama Liz’s on Saturday night.
Punk-poppers Midget reformed for a one-off performance to local fans in a rollicking 75-minute set which included a string of their best-loved songs, as well as a new single written for the occasion, She’s My Heroine, now available on live-stream media.
It is 13 years since the three-piece last played in Stamford. Appearances might have changed, but the quality of the band’s live playing most certainly had not, with Midget’s unmistakable tuneful melodies, tight harmonies and outstanding guitar work delighting the packed house, which included fans from as far away as Portsmouth, London and Cornwall. One fan even flew in from Chicago just to attend the gig.
Midget enjoyed national and international fame in the 1990s, with a string of hits in the indie charts and five albums. High points in their career were performances at the V98 festival in Chelmsford and opening the Fuji Rock festival in Japan in front of 40,000 people. They also enjoyed appearances on TV and radio, including a live set on the John Peel show.
The band members have now moved on to different careers. Lead singer and guitarist Richard Gombault still lives in the area and is a primary school teacher, bassist Andy Hawkins runs a recording studio in Leeds, and drummer Lee Major is an air traffic controller at Southampton Airport.
Richard, Andy and Lee still play in bands in their spare time, Richard having joined forces with former Prodigy guitarist and Janus Stark frontman Gizz Butt as part of the Dizzy Miss Lizzys. The band specialises in heavy rock versions of Beatles and other 60s and 70s favourites, and has headlined the Peterborough Beer Festival in recent years.
Getting together for the Midget gig was a challenge for the three friends, given their separate careers and locations, but they were keen to pull off this gig for their many fans in the local area. On the strength of this performance, they would be welcome to return any time.