Lincolnshire is now home to a new combined authority which will be led by an elected mayor from the spring.
South Holland residents will be joining others across the county in voting in May to elect someone to take up the position.
The government has confirmed that the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) Regulations 2025 have been signed-off, and the new strategic authority has been created as a result.
Devolution sees the transfer of powers and some funding from national to local government. Lincolnshire was one of the first 11 authorities to achieve the new status as of last week. It was already on the Devolution Priority Programme and ready to move if given the go-ahead.
Devolution will come to all authorities across the country eventually, and those that can’t agree a way forward will have the decision taken for them by the government if all options have been exhausted.
The new mayor will sit on the Mayoral Council for England, offering direct consultation with ministers and central government.
The GLCCA sees the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire join with the county council to create the strategic authority led by the mayor.
It will deal with issues including inward investment, housing and employment.
“There has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, and much more still to do. I firmly believe that decisions that affect local people should be taken locally.
“We will also be able to deal more directly with government in representing the needs of our area, and have a clearer voice to attract more investment,” said Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire
Council.
Establishing a strategic combined authority comes alongside government-led reorganisation of how local government works across the UK.
At the moment in South Lincolnshire there are parish (or town) councils, South Holland District Council and then Lincolnshire County Council at the top of the ladder. With the creation of the strategic authority comes another layer of government, above all the others.
But that is set to be a temporary situation as reorganisation gets under way.
Local government reorganisation will see a change to how powers and funding are divided between councils.
In Lincolnshire, this is likely to see two councils take on the role of the county and ten district councils.
South Holland and the districts in its current partnership, Boston Borough and East Lindsey, could form part of one new unitary authority while the rest of Lincolnshire forms another. The details are not yet known.
The government wants to move away from the current system of district/borough councils and county councils operating in the same place.
It wants to create one ‘council’ with a population of 500,000 or more. There may be exceptions on the numbers to ensure new authorities make sense.
The new unitary authorities, sitting above parish and town councils but below the new Combined County Authority in Lincolnshire, will take on many of the roles currently divided between the county and district/borough.
In a letter sent to councils, Jim McMahon, the Minister for Local Government, gives a broad range of options on how councils could reorganise themselves.
Mr McMahon said: “This is a once in a generation opportunity to work together to put local government in your area on a more sustainable footing, creating simpler structures for your area that will deliver the services that local people and businesses need and deserve.”
He said that many councils were in “crisis” and promised: “This new government will not waste this opportunity to build empowered, simplified, resilient and sustainable local government for your area that will increase value for money for council taxpayers.”
County council elections will go ahead as planned on May 1, along with the election of the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.
Once a reorganisation of local councils is agreed by parliament, ‘shadow’ unitary councils would be set up as soon as possible to prepare for the transition.
The government says the shake-up would simplify local government, and potentially save £2bn.
Currently the district and borough councils carry out services like bin collections, housing and managing leisure facilities.
Meanwhile, the county council is responsible for matters including education, roads and social care.
What does it mean for South Holland?
*Devolution is the transfer of power and funding from national to local government. In Lincolnshire this is the GLCCA (Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority.)
- The combined authority will be made up of a directly elected mayor who will sit with two members from Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council.
- Reorganisation is the changing of the structure and responsibilities of local authorities.
- In Lincolnshire the current two-tier system of district/borough and county will go, leaving one unitary authority working with the GLCCA.
- Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon, wrote to all councils in two-tier areas, like South Holland, to formally invite proposals for reorganisation. These will be submitted in the spring and full proposals outlined later this year.
- A unitary authority is one tier of local government responsible for all local services. It may cover a whole county, or a part of a county or a large town or city. Nottingham City Council, for example, is a unitary authority.
- A combined authority is a legal body enabling a group of two or more councils to collaborate and take decisions across borders – as with the recently created GLCCA.
- South Holland residents will be asked to vote in May for both their county council representatives and for the newly-created role of mayor for the combined authority.
