CC Marianne Overton MBE Newsletter - August 2025

News from

Marianne Overton MBE

This is my monthly personal newsletter to let you know what I am doing on your behalf and to keep in touch with you.

Let me know if I can help you. Text or call 07920 235 364

Lost Village Festival Aug 21-24th

The Lost Village Festival, an annual 4 day event at Norton Disney is in August. Thank you to all for much work last year helping to keep the noise levels reasonable and not a nuisance. The 1995 Pop Code is in their licence issued by the District Council, but there is agreement to use the new guidance on noise levels.

Some of the sound test locations need updating. The recorder is placed 1m at ground level from the façade of a person’s house, in both Thurlby and Witham St Hughs. The deep base travels a long way, becoming the dominant focus in people’s heads, and is often heard more on higher floors, where there is less physical interruption from other buildings. This is taken into account.

I was interested to meet Stuart Clough of NoiseNet, who analyse and automate noise recordings and have shared this with the Council. The festival team has a sophisticated system in place to help keep below agreed levels.

Revamp for Whisby and One NK

£2.65m funding is going to improve the energy efficiency of our leisure facilities, One NK in North Hykeham and the Whisby Natural World Centre. Funding is mainly from a grant from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, run by the Department of Net Zero and just under £319,000 (12%) is from Council reserves. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is delivered by Salix and run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Three elderly heating boilers and two CHP units are to be replaced by air scource heat pumps, better insulation and more to reduce the energy used and save £50,000/yr in heating bills.

Coupled with the recent solar installation, which directly powers the centres, the work will shrink our carbon footprint - OneNK alone currently accounts for 26% of the council's emissions.

Solar on Roofs, not Farmland

Thank you to everyone who completed the model letters. We managed to gather some 500 personal letters from residents and I handed them to the Minister for Energy and Net Zero, Kerry McCarthy, on July 3rd. It helped that I share a committee with the Minister and shared the stage on the Net Zero panel at the huge Local Government Association conference.  I produced the big bundle of letters.

"What's it about?" asked the minister.

"Solar on roofs, not farmland," said I.

"Ah, I agree with that", she said.

If that is the opinion of the Labour Minister, why is it still happening? I am not sure they understand the scale of development on good farmland. I submitted an extra paper to the Public Inquiry to consider in the cumulative impacts from more applications over a wider area.

Can we now make intentions match what happens on the ground here in Lincolnshire? The first of a batch of applications covering an area much greater than the City of Lincoln was heard by the Inspector in Lincoln in July.

As Chairman of the Cliff Villages Solar Action Group, I was able to attend and spoke many times at the Public Inquiry on the Springwell Application, which originally covered 2,400 acres and now includes over 1,300 shipping containers of fan-cooled Lithium batteries over 30 acres.   Also a compound with structures up to 6m, concrete  converters, CCTV, high fences and tanks to collect polluted water after an explosion or fire. Next deadline is Aug 12th.

Thank you very much for turning out for the Planning Inspector’s tour, covered by ITV. I hope he got the message that we matter, loud and clear.

Huge Battery Storage

District Councillors on planning have the vote on the batteries. The majority are Conservative. I do not know which way they will vote. Can you please put in a quick comment to show that it is important?

E-mail planning@n-kesteven.gov.uk  Or online “Planning on line North Kesteven” Type in 25/0491/FUL for Navenby and  25/0533/FUL for Coleby, both huge battery storage sites in open countryside and close to our villages.

There are currently 324 shipping containers full of Lithium batteries proposed c.650m from Navenby dwellings, but more could be sought. 1,346 shipping containers of Lithium battery are proposed at Coleby, 700m from the nearest dwellings. The Coleby application detail is here, page 4. Batteries only store for a few hours and are not needed, as UK is already more than 3 times oversupplied.

All this infrastructure would not be needed at all, if the energy was  made close to where it is wanted, down south. This is not about green energy or we would be using the vast areas of commercial roofs. This is about making global companies rich, at our expense.

Reasonable planning grounds for objection include: Industrialisation of landscape character, damaging visual impact, glint and glare, archaeology and cultural heritage, noise and vibration, Cumulative impacts, Air quality, including battery storage, climate change, land, soil and groundwater pollution from battery coolants, Biodiversity, impact on people, health and wellbeing, No grid connection, traffic on inadequate roads, transport and public rights of way, water, MOD, decommissioning, disaster response, Safety close to dwellings.

The battery storage is separate to the solar and could connect to the grid from any industrial site, not in our open countryside on good farmland. Please comment twice, even very briefly. Both are significant industrial developments creating an unacceptably damaging impact.

Thanks to our brilliant Cliff Villages Solar Action Group, which I chair.  We spent weeks putting the attached response together, with professional help, so please feel free to use any point(s).

If you would like to donate for professional support, please click the following link https://gofund.me/aaae0c8f

The giant Springwell Solar application went to our District and County Planning Authorities with significant objections. I spoke as the Community Champion and the whole committee spoke against the application. To listen to the debate click here. Click the video and forward to 30mins to hear the officer presentation and 51 mins to hear my speech, followed by other councillors. The High Marnham application came to County planning in July. Listen here. Introduction at 55mins, debate at 1hr 20 and I speak at 1hr 37.

The Action Group website is here. Huge thanks for your support.

Council Planning to change?

Planning is a vital power in local democracy, and we pass over 90%, often improving applications in the process. However, the Government suggests that planning gets “in the way” of developers, who apparently want a “free for all” without planning. The Government proposes to change planning committees so that fewer elected members are involved and only allowed to consider certain applications, requiring officers to make decisions according to the Government “guidance”. There is also an accreditation proposed, so that councillors who do not conform could be banned from planning committees.

Clean Water

After a huge amount of work behind the scenes, we welcome the best we can do to fix the nation's polluted water problems: halve sewage spills by 2030 and halve phosphorous from treated water by 2028 with £104bn.

It's a start.

Sewage contaminates choke our rivers, suffocate wildlife and destroy ecosystems. In 2024, sewage spilled into waterways for a record 3,614,428 hours.

Like many other countries we do not even begin to tackle the forever pollutants, the PFAS chemicals that concentrate as we circulate waste. And we continue to build more houses, with more roads and more pollutants in a headlong push for endless "Growth"? Can we not tread more lightly on this earth and try to live within our means?

Sir John Cunliffe led the Independent Commission on how to clean up the water industry today, worked on by people we know locally. 

"Thanks to the Secretariat,” he said, “the credit is theirs, the blame is mine"! (What a nice person!)

88 recommendations in 465 pages, a new regulator to replace Ofwat and others, £104bn capital to reduce spillages, and reduce phosphorus from treated water. Clearly a brilliant piece of work done, and much to do.

Separately, Steve Reed MP says water treatment is too expensive to nationalise, so regulation and legislation to clarify and tighten. Reducing sewage spills will expose other pollution sources and much more work is needed.

In a response also pertaining to a number of other public interest industries, paraphrasing Sir John Cunliffe;

"High risk, high investment return attracts investors with business models that you may not want. Reliable, low investment return will benefit the industry."

"Some companies have acted in a private interest, not a public one .. that cannot be allowed in future."

That is the same concern we have about thousands of shipping containers of Lithium batteries owned by investment companies and placed close to our villages.

Congratulations!

Fantastic to have English Lionesses win the Euros again!

Roadworks on the A607

·     28.7.25 closed for 1 week at Normanton to prevent flooding into homes

·     4.8.25 closed weekdays for two weeks at Leadenham for junction repairs 8am-5pm

·     18.8.25 closed week nights for five weeks at Carlton Scroop, main road repairs

·     17.9.25 closed week nights for four weeks Caythorpe, main road repairs

On the 12 week weekday closure, we have some success. I co-chaired a big public meeting at Carlton Scroop and followed up with mail and phone to make the case for night work to protect access to Mid UK Recycling, many other businesses, schools, residences and the GP practice. On the strength of the evidence,  night work was agreed for the A607 at Caythorpe and Carlton Scroop.

The shorter two week Leadenham works starting August 4th have stayed weekday daytime as it is in the heart of a residential area, but now phased, so not all roads will be closed at once. Discussions with the farming community aim to ensure access for the harvest.

At Normanton, the A607 road is closed daytime this week Monday to Friday 1st August for drainage works to prevent properties in Normanton from flooding. The proper signs were not up and no press release went from the Council.

I spoke to the manager Ian Ward, who ordered the correct signs, but not all arrived, and the suppliers, contracted by Balfour Beatty have not responded to chasing. I have asked for penalties to be implemented.

I also asked for assurance from the Director Karen Cassar, on the problem of co-ordination and ensuring all correct actions are taken, including good signage. I also asked to ensure the bus service is now properly reinstated on the A607 during the night work at Caythorpe and Carlton Scroop. Also that arrangements are made for the bus turning at Leadenham when that road is closed.

Navenby Library Site East Road

The Council is still selling off unwanted property at a rate of around £5m/year. The past three years raised £19m, from 35 farms and 20 buildings in adult and children’s care. There is some concern as to the future use of assets and we have asked for codicils to be included to avoid an increase in solar on farmland or hotels for asylum seekers.

Are there any corners of Council land or buildings in your area?  For example, the Navenby Library Site East Road?

What, if anything, do you want to see done with them? Communities can take on Council sites and community benefit could be reflected in the price.

Funding to bring nature closer to home

Kings Award for Enterprise

Employ 2 staff or more and can demonstrate strong environmental, social and good governance? Then please apply for this national award before September 9th. Businesses, non-profit and public organisations are eligible. Boost staff morale and get invited to a Royal reception. www.gov.uk/kings-awards-for-enterprise. Advice is here lieutenancy@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Learning from other Countries

Speaking in Oslo on water resilience on behalf of the Council for European Municipalities and Regions, I responded to the EU Minister’s new paper on water quality. We also visited Oslo’s vast underground sewage works, cleaning the water from some 800,000 people, including cruise ships. Ahead of tightening EU regulations, they have found new ways to remove micropollutants and 90% of the Nitrogen. They introduced their first robotic litter collecting boat in 2020.

Want to keep in touch?

If you know anyone else who would find this newsletter useful, please suggest they drop me an email here. I write a weekly bulletin which you can find here.  Please keep in touch with social media. facebook or @overtonmarianne

Best wishes,

Marianne

Marianne Overton MBE

Working together for people and planet

Local services need local decisions