Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill has delivered a speech outlining the council’s achievements, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for 2024.

Cllr Hill, said:

“2024, our 50th year as Lincolnshire County Council, looks set to be a very busy year, and also one of great signifcance. Against a backdrop of challenging times in local councils and global instability, we are taking action here in Lincolnshire to bring more certainty for our residents and the services they rely on.

Compared to many other local authorities, we are in a strong fnancial position and, despite our low funding base, we are able to provide a large capital programme for schools, roads and fooding issues.

As well as ensuring we can continue to deliver the services that our residents need and value, we are also able to invest further in food prevention, highways maintenance, tackling antisocial behaviour and environmental measures, whilst keeping council tax amongst the lowest in the UK.

During the last year, we have re-invested savings made by our service areas on day-to-day spending of around £12m. This included an additional £4m to support food prevention measures, as well as additional investment in our waste management, essential maintenance work to Cross Keys Bridge in Sutton Bridge and swapping street lighting to more effcient LED lighting.

For some years now, many of our services commission other organisations to deliver work on our behalf. This year we have undertaken 232 procurements, with a value of over £162million. Our new sustainable commissioning strategy means as well as having a positive impact on local residents and communities, it also benefts local businesses, our environment and our economy.

We can take assurance from our external audits that for the last two years there are no signifcant fndings reported in our ability to meet our value for money duty or to remain fnancially sustainable. This was refected in February, when we set a balanced budget for the next year, meeting cost pressures of additional demand and infation across our services, whilst delivering effciencies.

We continue to be future-focused as we look to use technology and innovation to improve our everyday operations. Our transformation programme continues to drive positive impacts in areas such as our property rationalisation programme which is reducing our offce costs.

2024 also marks a signifcant year as the government has approved our plans for devolution, ratifying both our ambitions and our work to date. There is much still to do before we can set up our combined authority and work towards a mayoral election next year.

At a time when we are looking back over our achievements not just for the last year, but the last 50 years, I’m confdent we are also planning an exciting future for our county.”

Councillor Martin Hill OBE

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council

Read the AGM speech