Category Archive News

Grant funding to help shine the spotlight on the wealth of creative and heritage talent that exists in the region is now available through Create North East Lincolnshire.

Create North East Lincolnshire was launched last September to build on the success of Grimsby Creates. Following successful bids to the Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, work has been expanded to cover the whole of North East Lincolnshire for the next three years. Culture and heritage projects are also supported by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. A diverse range of heritage and cultural projects are already benefitting from recent grant funding.

Grants include:

• Small Project Grants to support brand new commissions up to a value of £1,500, available on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis.
• Large Project Grants to support brand new commissions between the value of £1,501 and £7,500, with a deadline of Tuesday 7th May 2024, 2pm.  They will be assessed by a panel in mid-May and clarifications will be made by May 31 2024.

(Note: activities for both small and large project grants could include dance, music, theatre, festivals, literature, poetry, design, fashion, visual arts, crafts, film, photography, publishing, radio, TV, gaming and more and no match funding is required).

Some recent recipients include:

‘Meet Us at Albert’s’, a Large Project Grant which explores the rich printmaking history of our area by Eleos Collective.

Sarah Allen, a visual artist and community arts facilitator, who is exploring creative health and art for wellbeing with her Small Project Grant funding.

Lynsey Wells and Natasha Morley, who contributed aerial hoop and contemporary dance and portraiture drawing and life drawing respectively at ‘Unseen Arts Presents’ in February at Docks Academy, Grimsby, with their Small Project Grant Funding.

On the Project Grant, Natasha said:

“We feel incredibly lucky to have had the support of Create North East Lincolnshire throughout this project. The funding you’ve given us has enabled us to deliver these workshops free of charge and in turn has removed a huge barrier to participation faced by many in the local community. Allowing us to engage with people that might not otherwise feel able to access this sort of creative education.”

• Development Fund to provide opportunities to support individuals with creative or heritage careers, develop themselves and channel their creative energy up to the value of £3,000, with a deadline of Monday 15th April, 11am. Applications will then be assessed, with a response expected by April 30. (Note: This fund could be used to support events such as exchange visits, workshop attendance, or mentoring and training).

Grants were awarded to the following:

Steve Dixey, a photographer who explores the natural and man-made features on local foreshores.

Turntable Gallery co-directors, Dale Wells and Darren Neave, were seen putting Grimsby on the map at Manchester Art Fair in November last year as part of their development fund to reach and attract national and international artists to exhibit at their gallery space.

Samuel Pearson, an actor, performer and aspiring puppeteer in training, who is developing his puppeteering skills via his Development Fund grant.

On the Development Fund, Samuel said:

“I have felt supported by the whole of the Create North East Lincolnshire team. I have appreciated the regular contact with the team. The hard work they have done to promote me through their social media channels, both in the ‘Discover Creative Careers Week’ and the ‘Trailblazing Thursday’, has helped raise my profile in the local area. A positive experience of accessing funding and running my own development project has piqued my interest in applying for funding in the future.”

• Creative Match Fund can be sought for larger applications to arts and heritage funders, such as Arts Council England or Heritage Fund, up to 10% or £5,000 (whichever is smaller), available on a first-come, first-served basis, with projects needing to be completed by the end of the funding programme (31st March 2025).

Successful applications that have been delivered or due to commence are:

GRIMM, an Immersive play by Evie Henderson, around the 1960’s Grimsby fishing community, being staged at Docks Academy, Grimsby and Polar Bear Music Club, Hull in March, funded by Arts Council England.

Coastal Voice Grimsby by Music in Mind, a project exploring dialect and sounds of the region alongside schools and community workshops to form part of a wider project to be shared with Dover and Sefton, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. This project will commence in late Spring 2024.

East Marsh People Power by The Enrolled Freemen, providing audience development activities at Freeman Street Market to support the lead into the People Power Partnership Reflections dance and visual arts performance at Garibaldi Street Car Park, in July 2023.

Claire Etheridge of the Enrolled Freemen said:

“The activities and events brought a sense of pride and worth to our community, volunteers and the team that worked on the project, encouraging them to explore more cultural and creative activities.”

Support to creative and heritage individuals and organisations

For those who need help to make sure that their grant applications are the best they can be, visit Create North East Lincolnshire’s website where you will find lots of advice and information on project planning and writing funding applications, plus other funding opportunities. Visit Home – Create North East Lincolnshire- external site 

If you want to find out more, there’s plenty of options:

• Creative Drop in will be at The Business Hive, Dudley Street, Grimsby on Tuesday 9th April from 9am to 12 noon.
• Creative networking – Tuesday 26th March from 5pm-7:30pm. Book your free place here: Create North East Lincolnshire Networking Event Tickets, Tue 26 Mar 2024 at 17:00 | Eventbrite- external site .
• Online session via Teams on Monday 25th March from 4pm to 5pm. To be added to the invite list, please email CreateNorthEastLincolnshire@nelincs.gov.uk.

Cllr Hayden Dawkins, Cabinet member for Culture, said: “These grants are a wonderful opportunity to help members of the local arts and creative community to bring their work to a wider audience.

“The expansion of the arts programme through Create NEL is a huge boost to the creative talent we have in the borough, and I urge them to take advantage of this financial support to allow more people to benefit from the various cultural and heritage projects.”

Article and image from NELC. Photographer Steve Dixey explores the natural and man-made features on local foreshores and has benefitted from grant funding.

PROPOSALS for a devolution deal for North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire Councils have been approved by North East Lincolnshire Council’s Cabinet and at a subsequent meeting of the Full Council.

The proposals, which would secure new investment of at least £720m into Greater Lincolnshire over the next 30 years, were approved by the Council’s Cabinet on Wednesday evening, before being discussed at a meeting of the full Council on Thursday evening.

Lincolnshire County Council approved the proposals on Wednesday night. Councillors in North Lincolnshire will review the proposals on Friday morning before submitting them to the Government.

Councillor Philip Jackson, Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, said:

“I’m really pleased that my colleagues have approved these proposals. Tonight’s debate was very broad and Councillors are clearly supportive of bringing more investment and more powers to the area.

“A devolution deal will mean more funding for our area and extra powers from Westminster, and it’s important that this sits at a local level, with local decision-makers.  

“I’m confident that these proposals are right for our region, and are right for North East Lincolnshire, and for me personally this is an incredibly proud moment. It’s a historic day and will mean a great deal for our borough, and for Lincolnshire and the Humber region.”

Last year, an agreement was made between government and the three Lincolnshire lead authorities for extra powers and funding to be transferred from Westminster.

Article and image from NELC.

THE third annual Civic Awards got underway on Friday with nominees being celebrated for their significant contributions to North East Lincolnshire.

Nominees gathered at Grimsby Town Hall to enjoy a formal dinner ahead of the ceremony, where attendees heard the stories of fellow-nominees.

The awards were established to celebrate and recognise the impact of individuals, organisations and businesses in North East Lincolnshire. This year’s awards received 119 nominees across 8 categories.

In his closing remarks, the Worshipful the Mayor of the Borough of North East Lincolnshire, Councillor Ian Lindley, praised the incredible work of Civic Award winners and nominees.

Cllr Lindley said:

“It’s been a fantastic night and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories of those nominated. There are some very worthy winners, and some equally worthy nominees. They’re all winners in my opinion, and I feel certain that we’ll see many of them returning next year because they are really doing some great work in North East Lincolnshire.”

The awards are organised by North East Lincolnshire Council’s Civic Office.

Winners and runners up in the Civic Awards 2024:

Veteran in the Community Award

Winner: Mark Ireland

Environmental Impact Award

Winner: Grimsby in Bloom Repair Café

Sporting and Wellness Award

Winner: Mike Burton

Inspirational Young Person Award

Winner: Illie Jackson

Business in the Community Award

Winner: Blossom Home Care

Charity / Volunteer of the Year Award

Winner: Eve Samuels

Good Neighbour Award

Winner: PC Dave Cave

Mayor’s Community Impact Award

Winner: Carolanne White

Mayor, Cllr Ian Lindley, said that the evening underscored the importance of the awards and urged others to nominate their peers.

“We’ve seen and heard some great stories in this year’s nominations – people who really go above and beyond every day to support their communities, empower individuals to better themselves, and really make a difference.

“We know that there are more people out there who go unrecognised, who turn up each day and put in that extra effort. This might be a young person who is volunteering for charity, a veteran who is supporting others, or a business that invests in their community.

“It’s important that we celebrate these achievements and showcase the very best of North East Lincolnshire.”

The awards were judged by Councillor Ian Lindley, Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Tony Gaskins, Chief Executive of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Citizen’s Advice Bureau, and Liz Parry, owner of Abby’s Wine Bar and Bistro.

The awards were presented by previous award winners Jax Batty, Frank Sparkes, Kate Conway, Chief Executive of YMCA Humber, Theresa Ellerby from Children’s House Nursery, Liz Parry and Cllr Ian Lindley.

Article and image from NELC. More images are available on NELC’s website.

North East Lincolnshire Council have planted 416 trees in just a few weeks as part of its new Tree Strategy.

The plan, which has been in development since 2022, was formerly adopted by Cabinet in December last year. The strategy sets out their approach for managing and protecting the existing tree population, increasing the number of trees in North East Lincolnshire and for promoting the significant benefits that trees have in society.

It aims to give the residents of North East Lincolnshire a high quality, sustainable environment, which ties in with the Council’s aim to become Net Zero.

The Tree Strategy is also supported by two successful funding bids to the Forestry Commission’s Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF) and Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF), which will be used to support our tree planting efforts in 2023/24 and 2024/25.

It will also aim to improve canopy coverage across North East Lincolnshire from 10.5% to a minimum of 15%. Some boroughs, including East Marsh, West Marsh, Sidney Sussex, Immingham, and Croft Baker have as little as 2% tree coverage.

Already, a number of community projects have been carried out across the area, planting nearly 100 trees in the process.

On Friday 23 February, community volunteers and children from Signhills Academy joined North East Lincolnshire Council, Equans, Friends of Haverstoe and All Things Good and Nice CIC to plant 12 new trees in Haverstoe Park and on Taylor’s Avenue in Cleethorpes.

The second tree planting event took place on Tuesday 27th February in the West Marsh Ward. With the help of community volunteers and children from Macaulay Primary, Littlecoates Primary, and Ormiston South Parade, with support from West Marsh Community Centre, Grimsby in Bloom, Equans, North East Lincolnshire Council, Together for Childhood Grimsby and All Things Good and Nice CIC, 25 new trees were planted in the Duke of York Gardens.

On Thursday 29th February, a tree planting event took place with some of the children and staff from Springfield Lodge Montessori Day Nursery and Pre School, with support from North East Lincolnshire Council and Equans. The nursery runs a forest school as part of its education programme, and during the event, they helped plant and water six new trees on the land opposite their nursery off Springfield Road, Scartho.

The most recent events saw volunteers plant 12 trees in West Marsh on Tuesday 5 March, 25 in Sidney Sussex on Wednesday 6 March and 16 trees at Barretts Rec in Grimsby on Thursday 7 March. There are also a number of other events taking place throughout the rest of March to help plant more trees across the borough:

• Wednesday 13^th March – Sussex Rec, Cleethorpes
• Monday 18^th March – Grimsby Institute
• Tuesday 19^th March – Junction of Pelham and Worsley Road, Immingham
• Wednesday 20^th March – Weelsby Woods, Grimsby
• Friday 22^nd March – Ainslie Rec, Grimsby
• Monday 25^th March – Old Road, Great Coates
• Wednesday 27^th March – Thrunscoe Primary Academy, Cleethorpes
• Thursday 28^th March – Pocket Park, Haverstoe, Cleethorpes

Councillor Stewart Swinburn, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Transport, said: “It’s brilliant to see how many trees have already been planted across the borough.

“When Cabinet adopted the strategy we were committed to working with local groups in the community and we’ve done just that. I look forward to increasing the canopy coverage much more as we continue to work hard with groups to get more trees in the ground.”

Article and image from NELC.

If you’re interested in the heritage of North East Lincolnshire and want to get involved in helping to preserve, protect and share our joint heritage, here’s something for you!

With the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Heritage Network led by Heritage Lincolnshire has been meeting since 2021, to discuss heritage in all its forms: built, natural, industrial and community.

The Network is being restarted this year with a call for anyone that’s interested in North East Lincolnshire’s heritage including new and unfound or untold stories of our place.

The network usually meets quarterly and brings together people who have an interest in heritage to help build collaborative networks across the borough to showcase our local history, develop new projects and benefit from training opportunities.

Building on the success of the Heritage Starter Fund and grounded by North East Lincolnshire’s status as a Heritage Place, the Heritage Network will also help to administer a small grants pot for local heritage projects, with a few members helping the decision-making process about where those grants should be awarded. More details about the grants available will be released in the future.

Cllr Hayden Dawkins, Cabinet member for culture and heritage, said: “Over the last few years, we’ve really been working on protecting and restoring our heritage across the borough through the Heritage Starter Fund, and supporting people to apply for larger grants to the Heritage Fund and Historic England. The programme helped deliver lots of heritage activities locally, helping the voices of the past come through to educate, inform and inspire the people who live, work and visit North East Lincolnshire.”

Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “We are delighted to continue our support for the Heritage Network in their collaborative approach to celebrating and preserving the rich heritage of North East Lincolnshire – a key location in our Heritage Places initiative. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have seen some amazing projects from local people as a result of the Network in the past and we’re very excited to see what this next phase brings.”

Heritage Lincolnshire said: “Since 2021, we have worked with North East Lincolnshire Council to successfully support local people and groups through projects that have allowed them to access and enjoy their local heritage. Moving ahead in 2024, we are excited to see how the Heritage Network will grow and provide further opportunities to enrich the lives of the local community, all made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.”

The next network meeting is on Thursday 21 March 2-4pm at Central Hall, Grimsby.  Please sign up here: North East Lincolnshire Heritage Network: developing capacity for the sector • Heritage Lincolnshire- external site  if you’d like to come along or if you’d like to find out more or if you’re interested but cannot make that date/time.

If you want to find out more about creativity, culture and heritage across North East Lincolnshire, then visit www.createnortheastlincolnshire.co.uk- external site  – the new hub for information about grants and activities across the area.

Supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund, the network will help to place heritage and culture at the heart of communities in the area.

Article and image from NELC.

A “stand on the land” event took place on the site of what will be the new Horizon Youth Zone located in Grimsby town centre in the former West Haven Maltings and Migar House buildings.

Key supporters including Cornerstone and Founder Patrons, and Horizon Youth Zone board members, were invited onto the construction site to take a look at progress being made including visualising the new sports hall and MUGA pitch which are soon to be erected. Guests were given an update by the property team behind the construction of the Youth Zone including milestones over the coming months.

Representatives from North East Lincolnshire Council were in attendance, as well as Horizon Youth Zone’s new Chief Executive Lucy Ottewell-Key.

Horizon Youth Zone is being delivered by national charity OnSide, in partnership with North East Lincolnshire Council which is contributing towards the Youth Zone as part of the Greater Grimsby Town Deal. Other key supporters include Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Ørsted, St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, The Youth Investment Fund and private donors.

Expected to open in 2025, the state-of-the-art youth centre will provide thousands of young people with opportunities to engage in activities and access support from skilled youth workers, helping them to develop their skills and reach their full potential. It will be open to young people aged between eight and 19 (up to 25 for those with additional needs), seven days a week, for just 50p a visit. Members will have access to an indoor climbing wall, four court sports hall, training kitchen, music room with a recording studio, fully equipped gym, dance and drama studio, 3G kick pitch, arts and crafts room, enterprise and employability suite.

Horizon Youth Zone is an independent charity with a private-sector led board, and once opened will be part of the OnSide Network of 14 Youth Zones nationwide, supporting over 50,000 young people annually.

Lucy Ottewell-Key, Horizon youth Zone Chief Executive, said: “This is a really special day for everyone involved in Horizon Youth Zone as it’s an opportunity for supporters and trustees to see firsthand the progress that has been made on site. I want to thank everyone that has been part of Horizon’s journey so far, because of your support we will soon be able to transform the lives thousands of young people living in Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire. If you would like to be part of this inspiring charity, please do reach out as we are keen to work with anyone who is passionate about providing our young people with the opportunities and support they need to flourish.”

Cllr Philip Jackson, the Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “What we will have in this new Horizon Youth Zone is a fantastic venue for the young people of our borough. It will offer opportunity for sport, for social events, for learning and to give our adults of tomorrow inspiration, and encouragement for their futures. It also offers a fantastic new use for these historic and prominent buildings within our town centre. We are delighted to be a part of it, and I would like to thank all the other partners involved for their support.”

Construction of Horizon Youth Zone is well underway and contractors Hobson and Porter continue making good progress against plans for the build. [what is next on the list in terms of the build]. Behind the scenes, the Youth Zone team is starting to take shape and a number of new roles will be going live as we move closer to opening in summer 2025. Funds continue to be raised for the running costs of the Youth Zone and anyone who is interested in supporting

For further information, please visit: https://www.horizonyouthzone.org/support-us/- external site 

Article and image from NELC.

On Thursday 2 May people in North East Lincolnshire will have their say at local elections on who represents them locally, along with voting for the Police and Crime Commissioner. Residents must be on the electoral register to be able to vote in May.

With the registration deadline approaching, North East Lincolnshire Council is urging those who are not registered at their current address to make sure they are registered before it is too late.

British citizens living abroad are also eligible to register to vote in UK general elections, regardless of how long they’ve been living outside the UK. A new law has removed the previous 15-year time limit. Applicants will need to provide details of the address and time they were last registered or resident. North East Lincolnshire Council must be able to verify an applicant’s identity and past connection to the area.

More information is available on the Electoral Commission’s website- external site , along with a post code lookup tool- external site  that helps voters living overseas find the contact details for their local authority, using the postcode of the last place they lived in the UK. Many voters living abroad choose to vote by post or proxy. Applications for absent votes can now also be done online.

The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday 16 April. It takes just five minutes to apply online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

This year residents in North East Lincolnshire will be voting to select:

• Councillors in 12 of our 15 Wards, who represent their local area and residents, and will help shape the future of their local area by making plans and taking decisions (there are no elections in Waltham, West Marsh or Wolds this year).
• Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, who is responsible for holding the police to account and for policing as a whole in our area

Rob Walsh, Returning Officer for North East Lincolnshire Council, said:

“Local elections are an important opportunity to make your voice heard and have a say on who makes decisions about issues that directly affect day-to-day life here in North East Lincolnshire. If you have recently turned 18 or moved home, it is particularly important to make sure you are correctly registered to vote. If you’re in doubt, you can check with us by contacting us on 01472 324160 or by emailing elections@nelincs.gov.uk.”

Those intending to vote at polling stations in May will need to show photographic ID. A list of accepted forms of ID is available on the Electoral Commission’s website- external site . Those that do not have eligible ID can apply for a voter authority certificate – which can be done online- external site .

Jackie Killeen, Director of Electoral Administration and Guidance at the Electoral Commission, said:

“If you’re not registered by 16 April, you will not be able to vote this May. Registering to vote only takes five minutes and can be done online.

“Voters should also remember that they will need to bring photo ID to the polling station to be able to vote. Anyone that does not have an accepted form of ID can apply for Voter Authority Certificate.”

Article and image from NELC.

Work has started on converting five units in Freshney Place Shopping Centre into a bespoke Community Diagnostic Centre that will help to transform healthcare in North East Lincolnshire.

Once complete, the centre will allow us to offer around 150,000 additional diagnostic appointments a year to patients at a convenient, central location, rather than travelling to one of our hospital sites.

Due to open to patients in autumn this year, we will be able to offer a range of services, including ophthalmology, non-obstetric ultrasounds and a mix of pathological and physiological tests, such as ECGs and X Rays.

GPs will be able to refer patients to a centre, which are not only more convenient for patients but are also more efficient for staff and free up clinicians’ time to help further cut NHS waiting lists.

Now the demolition phase is underway and details of our plans are on display within the shopping centre, Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Cllr Philip Jackson and Deputy Leader Cllr Stan Shreeve, who is also the Portfolio Holder with responsibilities for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care, joined NHS project leads for a tour of the facility.

They were guided around the site by Ivan McConnell, our Group Director Strategy and Partnership, Mark Edgar, Associate Director of Estates Projects, and Helen Kenyon, North East Lincolnshire Place Director for Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Mr McConnell said: “It’s been a pleasure to take Cllr Jackson and Cllr Shreeve around the site today and explain more about our exciting plans for the site.

“It was also great to see so many members of the public stopping to read our information boards and find out more about the benefits this new centre will provide.

“Having this new facility and the capacity to conduct so many additional tests will be incredibly beneficial to the health of people across the area, as it will help us to detect and treat serious conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and respiratory conditions.”

Cllr Shreeve said: “As a council, we are delighted to see this development start and cannot wait to come back at stages during the development in the coming weeks and months.

“As the owners of Freshney Place, the council is extremely supportive of this. It will bring health care closer to the people, with thousands of residents within our communities having easier access to vital care. This is extremely important when we look at our priorities of working with partners to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the long-term.

“The new CDC also helps the council to realise its vision of supporting retail in Freshney Place and the wider town centre with a number of diverse leisure and community uses, which will drive footfall and help to create social and community hubs,” added Cllr Shreeve.

Article, image and video from NELC.

Work is now underway to do essential works to the three key bridges into Grimsby and Cleethorpes and protect them for the future.

Starting with Gilbey Road bridge, then Cleethorpes Flyover and followed by Alexandra Dock Bridge, there are works on both eastbound and westbound carriageways of each bridge which will be completed in phases.

The first few weeks:

From 26 February, there were overnight closures from 8pm to 6am on Gilbey Road flyover to enable contractors, VSL, to construct the crossovers between the carriageways. Traffic was diverted between Pyewipe and Westgate roundabouts around localised diversion routes during the closure.

The road over the Gilbey Road flyover (between Pyewipe and Westgate roundabouts) was opened up again during this first week through the daytime to normal traffic, but with a lowered speed limit of 30mph, which will be in force throughout the duration of the construction works for safety reasons.

On Sunday 3^rd March, there will be an overnight closure to implement the contraflow that will be used as the traffic management for the construction works and will come into force on Monday March 4. 

Once the contraflow has been implemented, traffic will be diverted onto the opposite side of the road, allowing one side of the flyover to be worked on at once during the main project. It is advised not to enter the coned work zones for the safety of the construction workers. Free recovery will be provided within the contraflow should any vehicles be unable to proceed with their journey. The recovery vehicle will place broken down vehicles at the nearest available place of relative safety to allow the driver to call their breakdown service.

Additionally, earlier this year, a “Bridgology” survey was completed by contractors, VSL. This was a GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey of the structure of the bridges and gave a good indication of the construction layers of the structures. In order to confirm some unexpected results recorded by the survey, trial holes need to be dug to expose a few areas on both Alexandra Dock Bridge and Cleethorpe Road flyover in the early weeks. These will be done during an overnight lane closure in the first few weeks, which will be lifted as soon as practical, and should not affect traffic flow. The holes will be backfilled overnight, and then normal traffic will resume.

The main project:

Once underway, the main project work will involve removal of the existing carriageway surface to get to the lower layers to start to inspect and repair the waterproofing layer of the bridge. Removing the concrete cover of the bridge deck to get to the reinforcement bars that are to be replaced, is unfortunately a noisy operation, and whilst noise reduction measures are being put in place, these will not completely mask the sound of the works.

Extra lighting will also be brought in for the project, which will remain on throughout the night to ensure safe working areas.

Once the works are underway, they will be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to try to get the project completed in the shortest possible time.

Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for Highways, said: “These are critical elements of our highway system in North East Lincolnshire. If these fail, there would be significant impacts, both economically in terms of the amount of trade that use the route, but also for local people going about their everyday lives.

“If we don’t do the repairs soon, the structures will only get worse, meaning larger scale repairs, and potentially complete closure of the route in the future.

Cllr Swinburn continued: “Given the scale of the programme, it’s inevitable that there will be disruption to the highway network. VSL will be working 24 hours a day on the project to get this done as quickly as possible.”

If anyone has any queries about the works, please contact ProjectManagementTeam@nelincs.gov.uk.

Timeline in brief: project starting on the structures on 26 February

Week 1-2:

• Underneath Gilbey Road Flyover: contractor compound set up on the cyclepath.
• Crossover creation on Gilbey Road Flyover (overnight closures 8pm to 6am – localised diversion)

Week 2-3 Gilbey Road Flyover Traffic in contraflow 24/7. Speed restriction: 30mph

• Alexandra Dock Bridge: overnight lane restriction on a single night to allow for “window survey”. Speed restriction during works.
• Cleethorpe Road Bridge: overnight lane restriction on a single night to allow for “window survey”. Speed restriction during works.

Article and image from NELC.

THE future of children living in North East Lincolnshire is a priority under the Council’s new vision for children’s services, according to new Director, Ann-Marie Matson.

Ms Matson spoke with staff last week at an event to unveil the Council’s new vision for the service.

During the event, the new director of children’s services described the ‘transformational journey’ that the service has been on since 2019, and outlined her ambition for the service to become confident but compassionate, with leaders at every level – a workforce that focuses on the needs of children and their families and creates change where change is needed.

The vision was first published last December in an event for Councillors, stakeholders and partners, and forms the basis of the Council’s work with Ofsted and the Department for Education.

Ann-Marie Matson joined North East Lincolnshire Council last December, going on to quickly recruit a new, permanent leadership team.

Speaking at the event, Ann-Marie Matson said:

“Our offer has to be about helping children to be the best that they can possibly be. As a service, we must be compassionate, but confident, and our work must always be about making a real difference”.

“We want a service that has leadership at every level that empowers our staff to provide the best outcomes for the children and the families that we’re working with. That means compassionate leadership, clear leadership and confident leadership.”

Speaking about the desire to avoid sending children with complex needs out of the area for their care and education, Ms Matson went on to add:

“We must always seek to gain the best outcomes and that means wherever possible keeping children here, in North East Lincolnshire –  in their community, their homes with their families and friends.”

Finally, Ms Matson spoke about the desire to attract new staff. In recent years, a national shortage of skilled positions such as social workers and education psychologists has seen the Council struggling to manage complex cases.

“We want to create a skilled, stable and confident workforce which are focused on identifying and meeting need early”.

“This will mean an increase in apprenticeships, growing our own social workers, and developing those relationships that we have with universities in and around the region.”

If you’re interested in joining our team, we’re hiring now to a range of new Practice Supervisor and Service Lead roles across Children’s Social Work. Closing date 10 March 2024.

Practice Supervisors Social Work – find out more at https://bit.ly/3SFDsF2- external site 

Service Leads Social Work – apply now at https://bit.ly/3OGExve- external site 

We’re also recruiting Social Workers at all levels of experience. Apply now at https://bit.ly/3tXn2jf- external site 

The event was held at Grimsby Town Hall on the same day as the Council’s latest Ofsted Monitoring Report letter was published, showing further improvement in the service.

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for children and education, said:

“We have made a tremendous amount of progress. Our service has grown in capability, and continues to grow.

“Ann-Marie has brought with her a significant amount of experience of what an Ofsted-rated outstanding local authority looks like, and that will be intrinsic to our own journey in the years ahead.’

“We want the very best outcomes for our children. They are our future and we are prioritising every stage of their development, whether that be through activity and networking groups at our seven family hubs, through mental health support for school-age children, or through careers advice for school and college-leavers.

“We want to work with our partners in the community to make sure that children and young people have access to the best support possible.”

Article and image from NELC.