Agenda and minutes

The public open forum will commence at 2.00 p.m. and the following formal business of the Council will commence at 2.30 p.m. or whenever the public open forum ends, if earlier.

There were no questions or statements from members of the public.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors:

Jane Kingman

Nikki Manterfield

Peter Stephens

Rosemary Trollope-Bellew

Sue Woolley

To approve the following sets of minutes:

-       AGM held on 22 May 2025.

-       Extraordinary Council held on 12 June 2025.

The minutes of the AGM held on 22 May 2025 on were proposed, seconded and agreed as a correct record.

A query was raised about who was in the post of Deputy Monitoring Officer at the meeting in June. It was confirmed that the draft minutes listing James Welbourn as the Deputy Monitoring Officer were correct.

The minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 12 June 2025 were proposed, seconded and agreed as a correct record.

The Council noted the Chairman’s engagements since the previous meeting of Full Council.

On 16 July 2025 the SK Charity Cup was hosted by Deeping Rangers FC, who went onto beat Harrowby United FC 2-1.

The Chairman wished to highlight the money raised for worthy causes, and also thanked Councillors Baxter, Byrd, Rahman and Rayside for their attendance at the game. Councillor Ashley Baxter kindly sponsored the match ball.

Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council made the following announcements:

• The picture surrounding Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) changed frequently. The Leader of the Council had attended the Local Government Association (LGA) in Liverpool, where Angela Rayner MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government had been speaking.
• Lincolnshire Leaders would need to engage on this issue as a group, however it was disappointing to see the launch of ‘A Greater Lincolnshire for All’ - a proposal by South Holland and East Lindsey District Councils which championed the idea of a northern and southern council in Lincolnshire. This proposal was launched some distance away from those districts in Lincoln.
• At their meeting on 8 July 2025 Cabinet agreed a £75,000 budget to procure external support for business plans, in line with North Kesteven District Council.
• Virginia Moran, Chair of the Deepings Community Interest Company (CIC) along with Sir John Hayes MP (MP for South Holland and the Deepings) met a minister from the Department for Media, Culture and Sport to talk about the Deepings Leisure Centre. The Minister offered to put representatives in touch with Sport England. A positive conversation had taken place with the Leader of Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) and Cabinet Member for Growth at LCC.

Cabinet Member for Planning

The Cabinet Member made the following announcements:

• The second Regulation 18 consultation on the revised draft Local Plan was launched on Thursday 10 July 2025. A recent Government announcement increased South Kesteven’s annual housing requirement from 700 new homes per year to almost 900. As a result the Planning team have the challenge of finding the most suitable sites for these new homes.
• Public engagement events were planned for 17 July 2025 in Bourne Market, 30 July in Market Deeping Library, 1 August at Stamford Market, and 2 August in Grantham Market.
• Parish and town councils had been invited to sign up to one of two sessions where they can take part in question-and-answer sessions.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste

The Cabinet Member made the following announcements:

• The Waste team were in the process of restructuring the waste collection rounds within the district; many households were likely to see changes to the days and times when their bin would be collected. All addresses would be notified of changes via a leaflet through their letterbox. There would be a mixture on online and offline communications.
• Parish and town councils would also be advertising this topic, and that would be supplemented with information on social media and on the SKDC website. The Cabinet Member would write  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Members considered the requirements placed on Full Council for the appointment of Members to its Committees and Panels.

Since the AGM on 22 May 2025, political Group Leaders had agreed the membership of Committees under delegation to the Chief Executive. Following this, there had been further changes requested by certain political Group Leaders resulting in this report.

Having been moved and seconded, and following a vote it was AGREED:

DECISION

That Full Council approves the following appointments to committee seats as proposed by the respective political Group Leaders:

-       Councillor Susan Sandall to replace Councillor Nikki Manterfield on the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

-       Councillor James Denniston replace Councillor Steven Cunnington as a member of the Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (gifted seat from Grantham Independent Group to the Independent Group).

An appointments to committees document correct as of 17 July 2025 was appended to these minutes.

This report provides a summary of the work undertaken by all Overview and Scrutiny Committees during 2024/2025.

Members considered a summary of the work undertaken by all Overview and Scrutiny Committees during 2024/2025.

The Chairman of the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee introduced the report, highlighting some of the projects discussed and supported by the various Scrutiny Committees:

1. Backlog of Maintenance of the Councils Assets
2. Increase to the Homelessness Budget
3. Bulky Waste Collection update
4. CCTV transfer update
5. Stock Condition Surveys
6. Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey
7. Balanced budget

There were a number of different strategies discussed, including:

-       Play Area Strategy where £100,000 has been allocated and to support replacement equipment.

-       Cultural strategy to support a pop-up cinema, free thinking festival and reinvention of the Gravity Fields Festival.

-       Sports and Physical Activity – this was supported by the staff and councillor groups who undertook Step into 2025 in January.

Having been moved and seconded, and following a vote it was AGREED:

DECISION

That Full Council notes the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2024/2025.

Members considered a recommendation from Employment Committee to implement a 3.2% pay award in line with the National Employers' for Local Government Services final offer effective from 1st April 2025.

The same offer had been made for the Chief Executive and Chief Officers. SKDC was not part of the national consultation process but had reflected the national pay offer.

A 2% pay offer had been budgeted for, so there was a funding shortfall of 1.2%. There was a budgetary impact of £244,000 on the General Fund and £76,000 for the Housing Revenue Account.

The recommendations within the report were moved and seconded.

An amendment was moved to read:

That Council approves recommendations 1-3 in the Pay Award 2025/26 report except as modified below.

Adds a new Recommendation 4:

“No element of the 3.2 per cent 2025/26 pay award shall be applied to any employee whose aggregate annual remuneration (defined as basic salary + contractual cash allowances + employer pension contributions) exceeds £169,344, the Prime Minister’s current cash salary. Any employee above that threshold will therefore receive no increase – a freeze.”

The amendment was seconded.

Note:  Once clarity had been received on the total figure within the scope of the amendment, the Chief Executive left the Council Chamber for the remainder of the debate on the amendment.

Several Councillors spoke in support of the Chief Executive and her work. She was the only officer within the scope of the amendment.

After brief debate, and on being put to the vote, the amendment FELL.

Note:  The Chief Executive returned to the Council Chamber.

Debate began on the substantive motion:

• The government had not reimbursed SKDC for National Insurance contributions this year. Therefore, the additional cost would be covered by the budget for salaries. The figures within the recommendations did not include National Insurance costs.
• When the budget was being prepared for 2025/2026 assumptions were made using external advice and guidance. As at October 2024 the guidance was that a 2% rise was required.
• The borrowing was a drain on reserves which could have been used for other purposes.
• When budgets were built last year members had several bids for works to consider. Had a 3.2% pay rise been budgeted for, some of those bids along with fees and charges could have been considered differently.
• About 15 years ago SKDC oversaw a buyout of national Green Book arrangements. As part of this there was an agreement that SKDC mirrored the local administration of any pay awards.
• There was a query over whether SKDC staff had the right to strike or whether it had been negotiated out of their terms and conditions.
• There had been several meetings where the overall budget (including staff pay) had been discussed, including the Budget Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the February meeting of Full Council.

Having been moved and seconded, and following a vote it was AGREED:

DECISION

That Full Council:

1. Note the National Employers’ for Local Government Services final pay award offer of 3.2% for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

A 45-minute period in which members may ask questions of the Leader, Cabinet Members, the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and opposition group leaders excluding the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee, Licensing and Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committees and Governance and Audit Committee.

Question One – Councillor Mark Whittington to the Leader of the Council

Councillor Whittington asked that best wishes be passed onto Ollie Chessum, a local lad who was representing the British & Irish Lions out in Australia. He had previously represented Kesteven Rugby Club.

Councillor Baxter was delighted to pass on his best wishes and to send a card on behalf of all Councillors.

Question Two – Councillor Charmaine Morgan to the Leader of the Council

Councillor Morgan asked the Leader of the Council to join her in welcoming the completion of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust’s (ULT) consultation on the future of the old Grantham Hospital site. They had committed to listen to the views of residents before a final decision was reached as to its future.

Councillor Baxter was not surprised that Councillor Morgan was raising this issue following her hard work with the local community on this issue.

Question Three – Councillor Tim Harrison to the Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture

Councillor Harrison highlighted the success of the Grantham Guildhall Arts Centre and asked the Deputy Leader to outline which factors had contributed to this success, and whether they could be applied at Bourne Corn Exchange or the Stamford Arts Centre.

Councillor Paul Stokes responded. One of the successes involved looking at the staffing structure. Streamlining staffing and attracting the right people had worked extremely well. Stamford already had a successful Arts Centre with the only cinema in Stamford, and this success would be built on. Bourne had the best multi-use venue in the district and was a wonderful space for rentals, weddings etc. It was doing incredibly well with a wonderful team.

Question Four – Councillor Steven Cunnington to the Portfolio Holder for Housing

Councillor Cunnington requested an update on housing void completion times.

Councillor Moran announced that the number of void properties was considerably under the target set for 9 months’ time. There were 77 void properties; major voids were down to 39 from a previous level of 68, and minor voids were down to 26 from a previous level of 38. There were 4 voids awaiting inspection. Caution was needed over a continuous drop in voids, particularly as stock condition reports filtered through.

The downward trend in numbers of voids was where the Portfolio Holder wanted it to be.

Question Five – Councillor David Bellamy to the Portfolio Holder for Planning

Councillor Bellamy had been made aware of several Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in the local area. One example was a solar farm north of Stamford, adjacent to the site of the Mallard Pass Solar Farm, which would span an area of roughly 7 square miles. When there were formal consultations would the Portfolio Holder confirm they would be discussed at Planning Committee?

Councillor Dilks expected these plans to be discussed at Planning Committee but would keep up to date with proceedings and keep members informed.

Question Six – Councillor Max Sawyer to the Leader of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The meeting closed at 3:57pm.