While I note South Holland District Council has applied to the Government for £20m to improve the ageing leisure complex at the Castle Sports Complex, as reported, there is a delay in the decision.
This increases my fears that Lincolnshire is going to be left behind again. Yes, I agree that a total refurbishment or rebuild would house many facilities under the same umbrella, if the funding were to come from the so-called levelling up fund.
But we cannot even get a decent bus service or maintain our crumbling rural roads, which points towards the LCC lack of funding from the central Government. We cannot let 2023/24 go by and continue to be the poor county in Lincolnshire.
In September, I started my campaign to keep the Stagecoach No 37 Spalding to Peterborough bus service in it’s entirety, but having just received another update via my local MP Sir John Hayes, my concerns increase for our county and our services.
Regarding the proposed Rural Connectivity Summit that will be taking place early in the New Year, I have confirmation that Stagecoach and their Business Development Director, David Boden have been in correspondence with Lincolnshire CC with their intentions.
The Rural Bus Summit, at the moment, will be focused on areas of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the idea is to develop a principle that can be rolled out to other areas.
This is where I feel, yet again, there is a lack of engagement with the public and local authorities that cover Lincolnshire. Surely full prior engagement would be beneficial to ensure Lincolnshire has its rightful place around the table for such an important service.
With the South Holland District Council elections taking place in May 2023, we cannot afford to have weak representatives making decisions or not putting forward a strong case for our area.
Our local community deserves better.
Rodney Sadd
Crowland
