Monthly Archive 25 August 2023

A £29m project to manage the risk of flooding to people and major industry in north-east Lincolnshire is now underway.

COUNCILLORS have approved a Skills Acton Plan for North East Lincolnshire, at a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet this week. 

The Plan, which identifies some of the key challenges facing people in our area, looks to identify and take advantage of opportunities to improve the awareness of high-skilled careers and the educational attainment of adults. 

In North East Lincolnshire, 73.2% of people are economically active, which means they are either employed or actively seeking work, slightly lower than the national average. The rate of adults claiming universal credit is almost double the national figure. 

By the end of secondary education, only  33.7% of students gain grade 5 or above in English and Maths in our area compared to 43.4% across England.

According to the papers submitted to Councillors, employers in the region have reportedly struggled to recruit people with the right skills for the jobs that they have available. 

This is particularly alarming in the context of future growth of the area, with the energy industry alone expected to create more than 32,000 jobs by 2040 across the Humber, a further 7,000 jobs expected to be created as a result of the move to create a Humber Freeport, and an ambition to deliver some 11,000 jobs by 2030 as part of the UK’s Food Valley. 

A further 20,950 construction workers are expected to be needed in Yorkshire and Humber by 2026 according to the CITB Skills Report. 

Councillor Philip Jackson, Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council and Portfolio Holder for Economy, Net Zero, Skills and Housing, said:

“Clearly the borough, and indeed the region, has a bright future ahead of it. We have been at the forefront of some of the Government’s major announcements in the last decade, from the Town Deal investment to the Humber Freeport, and all of that is starting to come into fruition. 

“Lots of jobs are going to be created over the coming years and it’s important that the Council is as supportive as it can be in making sure residents are ready to be able to step into those jobs. 

“In this Skills Action Plan, we’re aiming to take advantage of every chance to work with partners to improve the educational attainment of local residents, and the awareness of career opportunities.”

The action commits the Council to:

·       Collaborating with authorities across Greater Lincolnshire to ensure that the needs of local residents are ‘fully represented’ in matters relating to devolution

·       Liaising with, and supporting, national, regional and local organisations where their aims align with local strategic aims to raise aspirations, support careers progression and increase adult participation.

·       Collaborate with skills leads across Greater Lincolnshire to share best practice. 

·       Collaborate with, and support the development of, the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for Greater Lincolnshire.

Actions include hosting regular events to promote adult learning opportunities, connect vulnerable and struggling families with adult education providers, and promoting work experience opportunities within the Council and its partners. 

The Action Plan was approved by the Council Cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday 23 August 2023.

Article from NELC.

THREE schools across North East Lincolnshire are set to host CCTV cameras outside their premises following the continued success of a scheme aimed at tackling illegal stopping and dangerous parking.

Stanford Junior & Infants School in Laceby, Scartho Infants School, and Waltham Leas Primary Academy are all set to have CCTV cameras installed nearby the school gates to monitor parking and stopping during peak times.

Cameras were previously rolled out to Signhills Academy in Cleethorpes in September 2022, with further cameras being installed outside Old Clee Primary School in Grimsby. Since then, two more schools have received cameras: Queen Mary Infant and Nursery School in Cleethorpes and Welhome Academy in Grimsby.

The cameras automatically detect and enforce parking contraventions on the keep clear markings at the sites, helping to deter dangerous parking and reduce accidents.

Drivers caught stopping on the yellow zig zag lines will receive a £70 Penalty Charge Notice in the post, discounted to £35 if paid within 14 days.

For the first two-weeks after the cameras are installed, those stopping illegally will receive a warning letter.

Councillor Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities in North East Lincolnshire, backed the measures:

“These are long-overdue and will hopefully help to tackle some of the real issues we experience in these areas. In Waltham and Scartho in particular, I know that there are major issues with cars stopping illegally and parking dangerously in the vicinity of the schools, blocking other vehicles and making the area unsafe for children walking to and from school.

“We have seen some encouraging results at the other sites, so I’m hoping that we’ll see similar here. I want to work with schools and parents to make the spaces outside our schools safe for children.

“The solution, quite simply, is to either allow your child to walk to and from school if that’s appropriate, or to find a suitable parking space when dropping off your child.

“Instead, what we’re seeing quite a lot outside our schools is parents stopping the car right outside the gates, in areas that aren’t suitable for parking, and parents getting out and walking their child to the gates, abandoning their vehicles. It has to stop and I’m optimistic that this is the solution.”

The cameras will be installed ahead of the start of the new school term in September.

Article from NELC.

Two bridges across a short stretch of waterway in Grimsby will be fully maintained by North East Lincolnshire Council – with plans to renew one of them in the coming years.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors have handed down high praise to the Public Health Nursing Service at North East Lincolnshire Council rating it ‘good’ overall, in a report published today.  

Inspectors, in the first CQC Inspection of the service where a rating has been given, noted staff’s ‘compassion and kindness’ and the ‘good care’ towards children, young people and families. 

North East Lincolnshire’s Public Health Nursing Service offers a range of universal services spanning pregnancy to age 19 – up to age 25 for those with special educational needs and disability.  It includes health visiting, school nursing, infant feeding peer support, safeguarding health, and immunisations – work that plays a key role in improving children and young people’s health.

Inspectors visited the Borough in June and spoke directly with partners, staff, parents and carers, children, and young people, including through family sessions, to seek feedback.

Key areas lauded, some with excellent practice, were:

• The service has enough staff to care for children and young people and keep them safe;
• Staff understand how to protect children and young people from abuse, and manage safety well;
• They assess risks to children and young people, act on them and keep good care records;
• They manage safety incidents and learn lessons from them;
• Good care and treatment is provided;
• Staff work well together for the benefit of children and young people, advise them and their families on how to lead healthier lives, and support them to make decisions about their care;
• They treat children and young people with compassion and kindness.

The report goes on to say how the service ‘plans care to meet the needs of local people, respects their privacy and dignity, takes account of their individual needs, and helps them understand their conditions’.

It adds: “Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. [Staff] They felt respected, supported, and valued. The service engaged well with children, young people, and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to continually improving services.”

Inspectors rated four out of the five areas as ‘good’, leading to the overall ‘good’ rating.

North East Lincolnshire Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Stan Shreeve, whose Portfolio includes responsibility for Public Health: “This is an extremely strong inspection report and I would personally like to thank all the staff here for their dedication and commitment, which comes over loud and clear.

“There is real evidence here that we are achieving some real success in optimising outcomes for our children and young people throughout childhood. This will enable them to flourish and play their part in a successful future for North East Lincolnshire.”  

The full report is online at: https://api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/7b053f1b-4d88-4bdc-9a51-70535ae08dcb?20230814090046- external site 

Article from NELC.

Following a second positive meeting between North East Lincolnshire Council and the unions, the Council is pleased to say that the waste collections across the borough should resume normal service during the latter part of next week.

Constructive talks were held between the trade union leads and the Council regarding the various issues that the waste service has been experiencing over recent weeks.

Work will be ongoing through the weekend and in the early part of next week to understand how to return the service to normal working.

However, for the early part of the week, recycling will remain suspended.

The Council will release more information as soon as it’s available in terms of exactly when recycling rounds will be recommenced.

Article from NELC.

Following constructive discussions with the trade unions yesterday, North East Lincolnshire Council is working to resume collections of dry recycling as soon as possible.

Although there is no formal industrial action taking place, and the Council is not in an official dispute, operational and staffing issues remain in the waste service and waste collections are still experiencing delays across the borough. Recycling crews are still currently being re-deployed to make sure household and garden waste is being collected on time.

Further discussions are scheduled to take place with union colleagues imminently, and it is hoped that a long-term resolution can be found to the current issues. Until that time, the Council is looking at ways in which it can make sure that dry recycling collections can resume alongside household and garden waste collections, and will update as soon as plans are confirmed.

Following the meeting it has also been confirmed that internal processes to address performance issues involving some staff are being followed, and no further statement will be made on this.

As reported, the dry recycling collections were suspended on 31 July due to various staffing issues, which led to this week’s discussions between the Council and the trade unions.

Since then, domestic and garden waste collections have been taking place as normal and are up to date after crews were redeployed across the service.

Additionally, dry recycling from streets that were missed before the recycling rounds were suspended has now been collected, and deliveries of waste bins have been restarted.

The service will be monitored closely. Updates about the service for next week will be posted on the Council’s website, www.nelincs.gov.uk, on social media and also updated through the GovNotify service for those who have subscribed to Environmental updates.

Article from NELC.

The next phase of the works at Riverhead Square will involve replacing the old blocks under the canopy at the main entrance to Freshney Place and the section between Freshney Place and the corner of the Post Office whilst materials for the centre part of the scheme are on the way.

This work is due to start Thursday (10 August) with additional safety fencing put up around the working areas on the Riverhead site.

In order to access Freshney Place, pedestrians will be diverted around the site, with signed diversions changing over the coming weeks to facilitate the works in different areas.

A spokesperson for North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by the works, and we’re working with Freshney Place to limit the time working outside the main doors whilst providing a safe access for pedestrians and a safe working area for contractors.”

The whole Riverhead Square project will see the existing square completely re-remodelled.

The scheme will see the existing area changed to incorporate a lot more green-space and planting, as well as providing new seating, lighting, security and a flexible event space with improved infrastructure to support future events and activities. There will also be space for outdoor café seating at the entrance to Freshney Place.

The scheme has been funded as one of the projects included in the Town Deal, the money for which was secured in 2020 and is ringfenced for specific projects.

Article from NELC.

PLANS for two new primary schools in Waltham and Scartho have been delayed to give planning officials more time to consider feedback from residents and organisations.

The applications for two new schools, were expected to go to a meeting of the Council’s Planning Committee in September, with an expected opening date of next year.

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for children and education at North East Lincolnshire Council, said that the delay wasn’t unusual:

“This does occasionally happen with planning applications of this scale and nature. As well as residents, we quite rightly have to seek professional advice from experts and organisations specialising in highway engineering, utilities, archaeology and more. Now that we’ve gathered much of that information, officers are seeking to bring the plans to a committee meeting in October.

“What this will mean for the project is that, provided that planning permission is granted, the start date for construction will be slightly later than previously planned, with opening dates set for September 2025.

“These schools are desperately needed for the area, so it’s important that officers take their time to work through all of the responses, consider submissions, and prepare papers in the proper manner.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who attended our engagement events and submitted feedback through the planning process.”

The two schools, which are proposed for construction on land off Matthew Telford Park in Scartho and on the land known as ‘Sunningdale’ in Waltham, will offer much-needed school places for children aged four to 11.

As previously reported, after a tender process the Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust has been selected to run the two new schools. Today the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Brown and its Chair of the Board of Trustees Philip Bond reaffirmed their commitment to the projects.

In a joint statement Mr Brown and Mr Bond said: “Of course, the Trust is keen to move forward as soon as possible with these two exciting projects – we are here to secure the very best futures for our young people and these new facilities will contribute significantly towards that vision. However, we completely understand the need to ensure all the necessary procedures are adhered to when it comes to consultation and planning – we remain committed to moving forward in the correct way and will work with our partners to do so.”

Article from NELC.

We won’t take any lessons from Labour on bin collections.  When the Conservatives took control of the Council in 2019, the waste and recycling collection service was inefficient andunreliable with abysmally low recycling rates.  We had to literally clear up Labour’s mess.

We reorganised the service and introduced proper recycling bins for paper, card, cans, bottles and plastics, with a wider range of plastics collected and more recycling capacity forhouseholds.  The new bins replaced Labour’s dreadful box system which allowed rubbish to blow all over our streets.  The new system is very popular and has resulted in a major increase in recycling rates.

The new arrangements have work very well with high levels of public satisfaction, minimal numbers of missed bins and very few delays, until the last couple of weeks.  I want to thank the workforce who have helped deliver the improvements and have, until now, worked reliably and efficiently.  People will remember how they kept the system running like clockwork during the Covid-19 pandemic when other councils’ waste collection services were badly disrupted.

However, over the past couple of weeks, many of the loading staff (those who put the bins on the back of the wagons) have unexpectedly changed their well-established working practices without notifying the council.  This has resulted in slower collection times and delays in the service.  There is an imminent meeting with the Trade Unions to discuss the current issues.

Whist I would emphasise that some loading staff are still working normally, we are considering our options in relation to those staff who are not working in the normal way.  As a matter of urgency, we are drawing up contingency plans in case there is no quick resolution.

Over the past four years, Councillor Stewart Swinburn, the cabinet member responsible for waste and recycling collections, has done a fantastic job overseeing our major service improvements, and continues to work tirelessly to resolve the current short-term difficulties.

As a Conservative administration, we have adopted a common-sense approach to running and improving local services, with a “what works best” approach.  However, our prime responsibility is to the people of North East Lincolnshire and ensuring that they have a reliable and efficient waste and recycling service.  If the current service continues to be disrupted, we won’t hesitate to look at alternatives ways of providing it.

Turning now to Labour’s five-point plan:

• There is already a weekly bin collection, whether it be domestic waste, garden waste or dry recycling.

• There has been no failure in the garden waste service.  This continues to be collected every two weeks.  Only dry recycling collections have been temporarily suspended.

• We continue to look at improvements in technology that could streamline the service and improve communication with households.

• The workforce is already back up to full strength.

• If genuinely missed bins are reported promptly, they are currently collected within 24 hours.

Just like pre-2019, it is clear that Labour has no real idea how to deliver our waste and recycling services.

Councillor Philip Jackson, Conservative Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council – 4.8.23

Image from NELC.