Weighing up the options on how to split county to protect local services

COUNCILLORS SET TO VOTE ON PROPOSAL FOR LARGER UNITARY AUTHORITIES

- BY OLIVER CASTLE Local Democracy Reporter

A PLAN to split Lincolnshire in two with a pair of new councils has been put forward in a bid to ensure major change does not ‘disrupt’ services in a ‘mad’ and ‘dangerous’ way.

A major shake-up is planned that would see the existing county and district authorities scrapped and replaced with larger unitary councils.

A Lincolnshire County Council overview and scrutiny management board held on Thursday, June 26 saw members consider two ways of doing this.

The first option was to have one unitary council for North and North East Lincolnshire and a second county area for the rest of Lincolnshire. The second option would see North, North East Lincolnshire, East Lindsey and West Lindsey group together into one unitary authority, with a second unitary council being formed of Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Kesteven, Boston and South Holland. Several other options have also been floated by other councils in the past but these were not part of the board’s discussion.

Members chose the first of the two options put to them.