About the council

"WEST LINDSEY IS A GREAT PLACE TO BE WHERE PEOPLE, BUSINESSES, AND COMMUNITIES CAN THRIVE AND REACH THEIR POTENTIAL."

It is our intention to deliver the Corporate Plan by:

  • Ensuring that economic regeneration in West Lindsey is sustainable and benefits all of our communities.
  • Facilitating quality, choice and diversity in the housing market, assist in meeting housing need and demand and deliver high quality housing related services to support growth. 
  • Creating a safer, cleaner District in which to live, work and socialise.
  • Reducing health inequalities and promote wellbeing across the District through the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
  • Creating strong and self-reliant communities and promote positive life choices for disadvantaged residents.
  • Facilitating the creation of a highly educated and skilled workforce, that meets the present and future needs of the local and wider economy.
  • Ensuring the Council is well-managed and governed and delivers high quality services that demonstrate value for money, improvement and meet public aspirations. 

ABOUT WEST LINDSEY

West Lindsey District is one of the largest and most rural in England. It covers 1,156km2 (446 square miles), with the administrative centre in Gainsborough on the River Trent to the west, and the market towns of Caistor and Market Rasen to the east.

The Lincolnshire Wolds, which provide valuable and natural environment capital, run through the District and contain an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which we strive to preserve for our existing residents, yet also promote to attract new residents and visitors. The south of the District serves the City of Lincoln through a number of high quality villages which bring wider economic benefit to the District.

These communities have expanded rapidly over recent times are some are now larger than our traditional market towns. The impact of this growth and needs of these communities must be addressed in the review of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan. 

Our population at 2017 was 94,300 and is steadily growing dispersed across 42,670 households. However it is an ageing population and is ageing at a faster rate than the population nationally. The wellbeing and success of our residents and communities is of upmost importance to the Council. Our residents have varied and sometimes complex needs. We must ensure that we work with partner organisations, communities and residents themselves to address their issues and have a positive impact on their lives. We recognise that managing expectations in relation to time and resources available is essential. We are therefore clear that we will be working to improve matters over the medium to long term. 

The District’s economy, business confidence is improving and there has been a jump in recruitment activity in the business sector. Positioning our economy to maximise investment in the District has enabled us to attract significant grant funding to grow our economy and the Council is now seen as an ‘investable proposition’. Since 2016 the growth measured “Gross Value Added” (GVA) outstripped anywhere else in Greater Lincolnshire and our house prices rose the fastest in Lincolnshire. Average weekly earnings are on a par with the rest of the country and compared to the rest of the region, the District benefits from a higher than average number of managers, professionals and skilled tradespeople. Studies show that social mobility is improving and West Lindsey has moved up seven places in the Vibrant Economy Index which ranks all local authorities based on a number of factors including prosperity, health and wellbeing, happiness, and opportunity. 

We recognise that with fewer resources we alone cannot deliver our vision for West Lindsey. Over the period of the previous Corporate Plan we attracted £10m of grants through national competitions and more recently we secured £10274m from LUF towards a £17m programme to improve the centre of Gainsborough.

This has all aided the development and delivery of our ambitious growth agenda, our commercial strategy and our commitment to the delivery of value for money services. We will continue to align ourselves with Government policy and funding regimes to enable, lobby, influence, and work in alliance with others. In addition, we have generated significant traded income and efficiency savings. Together these resources will enable us continue to deliver high quality public services and achieve positive outcomes which will make the District a great place to be, where people, businesses and communities thrive and can reach their potential. 

Areas we are not directly responsible for, but on which we intend to lobby for change include rural crime; improved health care provision; broadband availability; the impacts of welfare reform; effective support for housing development and increased funding support for intervention rates which reflect our rural characteristics. 

Forging alliances is a key objective of the Council to ensure we understand and take advantage of our functional economic geography. The district enjoys strong economic ties and good connectivity to the North and the Humber Bank and forms an economic corridor to the West towards the Sheffield City Region. Hence it is vital to position our economy within the Local Industrial Strategy and maximise the economic benefits to ensure we continue to support our communities as they grow. We must assert our economic position to avoid becoming a ‘squeezed middle’. This will see the Council looking to work more closely with the unitary Councils of North and North-East Lincolnshire s and East Lindsey District Council as well as promoting Greater Lincolnshire.