News from County Councillor Marianne Overton MBE
CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2024
Very best wishes for Christmas and throughout 2025! Working for you all year. My monthly emailed newsletters are packed with local activity and action on your behalf. Contact me on 07920 235 364 or email marianne.overton@biosearch.org.uk
Facing up to Big Solar Industry
The huge scale of industrial developments continues to be a significant battle with unlimited applications coming in - 38,000 acres in Lincolnshire right now and many new pylons. Lincolnshire Independents have called for support from colleagues with two motions put to full Council, calling for limits on the industrial solar developments and proper consideration of alternatives. Our Councils have written to Government and I am also working through my national channels, for an improved planning system so we are not the nation’s dumping ground. Applications in the UK are for more than ten times the energy currently generated, over five times the need to 2050 and largely in Lincolnshire, England’s breadbasket. Hundreds attended our local public meets.
This solar industry is not locally owned, not connected to local needs and not required to give any local benefit. On a contracted guaranteed price propped up from our taxes, they are ultimately owned by overseas companies, creating a drain of UK funds on quickly outdated technology – for our lifetimes at least.
Meanwhile there are over 600,000 acres of commercial roofs, lying vacant. That alone would more than treble UK’s solar capacity, meeting the Government’s target. Lincolnshire is not to be a dumping ground, whilst profits go abroad. Can you help our action group a bit?
Text or call me? 07920 235 364
Help for warmer homes & flood prevention
Thank you to highways for improvements in flood defence in many of our villages. As we get more weather extremes, we are saving energy with grants for home insulation and careful use of transport. Call Connect is for anyone doing a journey where there is no regular bus. £3/journey from January. 0345 234 3344. Thanks to our local shops who do such an important job with good products and saving travel, especially at Christmas! Thanks for shopping local and supporting our local Christmas events, including Navenby Christmas Market, which was a great success!
New Government. New Mayor.
A new layer of Government starts in the new year, with a catchy title of the “Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority”. Then on May 1st, a new political Mayor joins them at a starting cost of £2m. That’s hard to stomach when our services are already struggling. The mayoral authority needs staff, audit and scrutiny, the whole lot, and raises its own tax.
Dissolving our Councils?
Government is considering dismantling our current District and County Councils and centralising services into very few hands around a Mayor. The so-called “Devolution White Paper” reveals plans to move decisions further from us and is due out on Dec 19th.
Losing the Local?
Some decisions currently done by our local councillors will move into the new body, possibly strategies for transport, planning and housing. If you thought the current councils were hard to influence, try a combined one, ten times bigger! “Greater Lincolnshire”, is from Stamford to Scunthorpe and Grimsby with 1.1m people, so it’s tough to influence an unrepresentative handful of decision makers in the new Mayoral authority.
And what do we get?
Government promised £20-24m but put on hold the £110m promised for the South Hykeham Relief Road. Councils have already worked successfully together and already made any possible efficiency savings. Any further money is likely to be geared towards “growth”, which could be vast solar arrays on farmland, thousands more houses or focused on the Humber area industry. Instead, we need the money in our Councils for steady, on-going support for roads, services, local businesses, communities and care for our environment.
Money for local services
As Vice Chairman of the Local Government Association, I helped make the case for improved funds for our local council services. We got a much-needed extra £4.5bn. However, the new Government is changing the way money is distributed, which is likely to disadvantage rural areas. For Lincolnshire County Council, we could lose £9m rural grant and have the extra £20m costs of raised employer national insurance and living wages, making us £29m short. We were previously promised £262m from the cancelled HS2, for our local railways, roads and buses. We will know on Dec 19th.
Improving our local roads
I have called nationally and locally for more “pothole” funding, which was agreed, used to improve our local roads, as you will have noticed. Lincolnshire Independents are working hard to make sure we get our share locally and tackle heavy traffic through villages. Please keep reporting on fixmystreet.com or 01522 782070 and let me know if you need more.
Bringing New Ideas
Elected locally, nationally and internationally, I also work with Councils across the UK, Europe and at COP29 to strengthen shared actions, which we can do here in North Kesteven. At Cop29, I gave presentations on what Councils across Europe are doing to tackle climate change and mitigation. I met the Chinese Councils in force, speeding ahead on manufacture of very light roof solar, and other renewables for UK to buy. The Japanese Taisei Corporation showed bricks made of Carbon Dioxide taken out of the air and combined with calcium, as well as square flat wall tiles and even windows that make electricity. There is clearly no need to cover farmland with heavy old panels and concrete!
Thank You
A huge thank you to local organisers and residents who pull together in tough times and work together to make our village events so successful. We hope to see you soon!
Community Grants are available 01529 305825