Funding brings new beginnings to Ukrainian families in Boston

Tess Egginton
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Funding brings new beginnings to Ukrainian families in Boston
In a major step towards providing refuge and support, the first families have been housed in Boston Borough thanks to government funding secured by the council.

Back in June, the council announced its success in securing funding through the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) scheme, earmarked for the purchase of five family-sized homes.

The LAHF is designed to reduce extra pressures on housing and homelessness services so they can continue to provide for local households with housing needs – it means there is no negative impacts on existing housing waiting lists. Last month, the council celebrated the occupancy of the first two properties by Ukrainian families who, for the past 18 to 24 months, have endured life in temporary accommodation. Since resettling in the UK, these families have been actively engaged in work and training, showcasing resilience and determination in the face of adversity. Cllr John Baxter, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning at Boston Borough Council, said: “We very much hope that these families moving into this accommodation will be able to fully integrate into the local community and the borough as a whole. “Securing this additional accommodation has reduced pressures on our Housing Needs and Homelessness service and enabled the Council to continue to provide long-term for local households with housing needs.”
  Image credit: Stock.adobe.com/Chris Loneragan

University’s business incubation centre celebrates support for 1,000 firms over two decades

Tess Egginton
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University’s business incubation centre celebrates support for 1,000 firms over two decades
The Sparkhouse business incubation centre created by the University of Lincoln has celebrated two decades of providing expert support to more than 1,000 county businesses. Sparkhouse offers specialist business incubation services, including tenant packages which provide managed office space and meeting rooms in a city centre location, access to catering, and virtual office options. Charlotte Baxter, Enterprise Manager at the University of Lincoln, said: “It was wonderful to celebrate the 20th anniversary in a room full of past and present tenants, supporters and staff. The feedback from the night was overwhelmingly positive and heart-warming. Having such an array of attendees highlighted the far-reaching nature of the support that Sparkhouse provides, and we look forward to continuing this work. “The Enterprise and Innovation Team at the University of Lincoln would like to extend a big thank you to not only all of our attendees on the night, but also to those that sadly couldn’t join us, we would not be where we are without their support.” Luke Wiggs, Creative Director at Commuter Films, said: “Sparkhouse has been instrumental for Commuter Films and its entrepreneurial journey, providing crucial business support for our first office and grant assistance. It nurtured an environment for creativity and growth. “Our story has come full circle with Sparkhouse. George, our first employee and a University of Lincoln graduate, symbolises the link between education and real-world impact. Sparkhouse not only fuelled our growth but also created opportunities for talented graduates.”

Construction completes on new business park in Lincolnshire

Tess Egginton
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Construction completes on new business park in Lincolnshire
Construction has been successfully completed on a new business park in Lincolnshire: Wharton Place. Delivered by established local contractor, Stirlin, Wharton Place provides ten brand-new light industrial units split across three terraces. The units range in size from 1,300 sq ft to 2,583 sq ft and provide flexible space for a variety of business uses. All ten units on the development benefit from allocated parking, an electric sectional door, a personnel door and DDA compliant toilet facility, as well as an eaves height of 5 metres to accommodate a mezzanine floor upon request, to meet the evolving needs of businesses. Situated in a strategic location on Foxby Lane, adjacent Lincolnshire County Council’s Mercury House Business Centre, Wharton Place offers convenient access to key transport links in Gainsborough. Wharton Place is the third commercial park delivered by Stirlin in the area, following the success of Stirlin Place and Willoughton Place. Tony Lawton, Managing Director of Stirlin, says: “We’re thrilled to announce the completion of Wharton Place Business Park. It’s fantastic to add this to our growing portfolio of successful projects, and deliver further modern, cost-effective industrial spaces to meet the demand in the local area. Our investment in Gainsborough is a testament to the town’s appeal as a thriving business community.”

2023 is Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance’s busiest year

Tess Egginton
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2023 is Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance’s busiest year
Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance (LNAA) has experienced its busiest year on record, responding to 1,771 missions in the last 12 months. The charity’s crews of pilots, doctors and paramedics responded to 541 missions in Nottinghamshire, 1,044 in Lincolnshire and the remaining 181 in the surrounding counties. Serious medical injuries accounted for 676 missions, followed by 488 road traffic incidents as well as 158 assaults and 50 sporting or leisure related injuries. The majority of patients were between 40 and 60 years of age. Critically ill and injured patients were taken to hospitals including Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre, Hull Royal Infirmary, Sheffield Northern General and Lincoln County Hospital. Christmas and New Year was particularly busy for the crews. On average LNAA teams respond to 4 missions per day, but over the nine days of the festive period they received 43 emergency calls to attend patients needing a range of life-saving treatments including blood transfusions, anaesthetics, and life-saving drugs. And between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, whilst families across Lincs and Notts celebrated at home, crews responded to 17 incidents making 2023 the busiest Christmas ever. CEO, Karen Jobling said: “Each year the number of missions we attend increases. Last year we responded to 151 more missions than in 2022, treating critically ill and injured patients across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.” LNAA’s Nottinghamshire critical care car celebrated its 4th birthday in September and since its launch in 2019 has responded to 1,304 missions. A new car arrived in November and soon became a regular sight in Nottingham, taking the doctor/paramedic team swiftly to the scene of incidents. Last year the Notts critical care car responded to 436 calls in the county. As a result of this increase in demand the Notts crew has expanded its presence and now operates every Thursday and Friday from 7am-7pm and Saturday and Sunday 7pm–7am. Caring for a patient does not stop when the doctors and paramedics transfer them to hospital. LNAA’s Aftercare Team continued to grow from strength to strength and the team reached out to 916 patients and/or their families during 2023. From providing support and arranging 58 visits to HQ to being a listening ear, the team helped many patients come to terms with their injuries and cope with the impact of what happened to them. Karen summed up by adding: “We start a new year with great optimism. 2024 is the 30th anniversary for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance and we have ambitious plans for the next 12 months so that we can be by the side of more patients. “As a charity, we receive no direct government funding for our operations and we rely on the support people in every community in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire for the £10 million needed to operate 24 hours of the day, every day of the year. “As demand for our service grows, we know that costs will also increase, and we thank everyone who has supported us in whatever way and enabled us to be by the side of patients, day and night.”

122 affordable homes set for Sleaford brownfield site

Tess Egginton
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122 affordable homes set for Sleaford brownfield site

Countryside Partnerships, the provider of multi-tenure, affordable homes, has exchanged contracts with Tesco Stores Ltd on a 12.8-acre brownfield site in Sleaford, Lincolnshire with a view to building 122 new affordable homes, 5 First Homes and a 66-bed care home.

They will also be providing a new county standard bowls green and club house to replace the ageing facilities currently on site.

The regeneration project will transform the former industrial site, previously used for seed processing, into much-needed housing with a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom family homes for the area. The First Homes are market-sale properties discounted by at least 30% and available to first-time buyers meeting certain eligibility criteria.

The land is allocated for mixed-use and residential development in the Lincolnshire Local Plan, adopted in April 2023. Countryside now expects to submit a Reserved Matters planning application in the first half of 2024 with a view to starting work later in the year.

Lee Parry, Managing Director, Countryside Partnerships North East Midlands, said: “Redeveloping brownfield sites such as this one in Sleaford is hugely important in helping to tackle the crippling shortage of affordable homes across the UK.

“Our planning team cannot wait to get into the finer planning details with a view to transforming this former industrial site into an attractive and welcoming place to live for the local community.”

Local Lincoln RAF veteran is crowdfunding to finish rebuilding his Classic Mini

Tess Egginton
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Local Lincoln RAF veteran is crowdfunding to finish rebuilding his Classic Mini
Waldeck are pleased to have been able to make a £100 donation to a local RAF veteran’s Crowdfunding page as he kicks off his mission to finish restoring his Classic Mini Cooper S, which after significant amounts of work is now finally ready to be sprayed. Local Lincoln man, Graham Cavill, joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 2002, travelling the world working on various aircraft as an Aircraft Mechanical Technician. In 2007, Graham sustained a severe traumatic brain injury following a fall. At the time, he was maintaining the cargo door on a Trystar and fell 16 feet on to the pan at RAF Brize Norton. We heard from Graham as he shares more of his story: “After my accident I ended up being medically discharged from service. Working on aircraft – getting my hands dirty, problem solving and making repairs, was my dream job. When I had my accident I was unable to continue with this career due to my injury and mental health battles as a result of the injury. To say the least I felt deflated, empty and worthless. “I was lucky enough to have the RAF Benevolent Fund who, following an assessment, provided me with the funds to purchase a Mini (now fondly nicknamed Trigger), which was and still is incredibly amazing and overwhelming. The mini was funded to support my rehabilitation, providing me with mental stimulation and helping me with my depression. My dream is to complete a full nut and bolt restoration.” Through almost 7 years of work on the Mini, which has been interrupted by several spells in hospital, Graham has worked tirelessly alongside his role as a full-time Dad, with the help and donations from friends, local businesses and the British Motor Heritage to strip down, rebuild, weld and add new panels to push forward with the restoration. Graham is now in the final stint of the project and is Crowdfunding for a final £5,000 to complete the restoration with a respray of the Mini. Please join us with Waldeck and sister company Morson in wishing Graham all the best for the remainder of the restoration! For more information on Graham’s project, or if you would like to support his journey to fully restoring ‘Trigger’ please follow the link here. 

Record numbers of migrating birds visit North East Lincolnshire staging post

Stuart Pearcey
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Record numbers of migrating birds visit North East Lincolnshire staging post
A temporary stopping off point for wildlife on their migration journeys has been enthusiastically welcomed by wildlife only months after its creation. It’s Novartis Ings, on the south bank of the Humber, where the wading birds in particular can feed on the very rich invertebrate food source on the mudflats, and has attracted about 1,200 redshank and 7,000 black-tailed godwits. Last October, a juvenile Shag and a Red-throated Diver caused a stir in the local bird-watching community, while a Goldeneye has also been seen in recent weeks. Sian Niblo, Ecology Technician at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “There is plenty of water onsite, given the weather we have been experiencing recently, which has allowed for perfect conditions for these birds. “A core team of regular volunteers, who are avid bird watchers and nature enthusiasts, regularly visit the hide at Cress Marsh.  They can record what they see during the time they are there on a Google data sheet, which asks for the species, how many, what time they were seen etc, and from this we can deduce how many are there at any given time of day. “At Novartis Ings, which has been undergoing Environment Agency works, the birds can often be seen feeding on the mud flats over the opposite side of the nearby North Wall and when the tide comes in, they cluster and fly over the wall to feed and roost.  A volunteer visits this site daily and records the bird activity during his visits, as he has done since before the site was prepared as a wetland.” Other data comes from the Wetland Bird Survey data, and via Roger Wardle, a wetland consultant who was responsible for creating Cress Marsh and Novartis Ings alongside NELC. Many of the visiting birds use one of the two mitigation sites – the other being the nearby Cress Marsh – as a temporary base during the winter months, flying south to the Humber area from the Arctic, or as a rest stop before flying further south.  Every year, 90-million birds fly along the East Atlantic Flyway, a super-highway that follows the coastlines from the Arctic, through Europe and into Africa.  Many of the birds are attracted to the rich feeding grounds of the Humber Estuary, where they enjoy the quiet of the coastline before returning to their breeding grounds in the spring. Novartis Ings and Cress Marsh are mitigation sites, created as part of North East Lincolnshire Council’s SHIIP project (South Humber Industrial Investment Programme).  The two sites now amount to about 75 acres of designated ecological land.  SHIIP was created to encourage long-standing businesses and start-ups to take advantage of the creation of new industrial sites and major infrastructure investments, including the Pioneer Business Park and Humber Link Road.  Novartis Grimsby and Solenis were instrumental in NELC’s acquisition of these sites.

Heritage Centre fishes for volunteers to create new online museum resource

Stuart Pearcey
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Heritage Centre fishes for volunteers to create new online museum resource
Grimsby’s Fishing Heritage Centre is launching a new project and is seeking the help of North-East Lincolnnshire residents to make it happen. The Dynamic Collections Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and in partnership with North Lincolnshire Museum, will be looking at the thousands of objects in the museum, working to make them available online for public viewing. Alongside this, volunteers will have the chance to uncover fascinating stories about a range of items and get an unprecedented insight into the history of North East Lincolnshire. Those who take part with also receive a range of training to ensure the well-being of these artefacts and learn how to create digital content which will be made available to the people of North East Lincolnshire and beyond. To help prepare for an exhibition, the Dynamic Collections team will help to repackage, organise and research objects. Anyone who wishes to volunteer will be required to commit to a weekly three-hour session at the museum or at home. Dynamic Collections Project Officer Alistair Eachus said: “It’s an exciting time at the Fishing Heritage Centre and we need your help to make this project the best it can be. “Throughout the process, myself and the team will be going through a host of interesting objects steeped in local history. After all the hard work spent collating the pieces, there will also be an exhibition to showcase what we’ve put together.” For more information and an application form please contact alistair.eachus@nelincs.gov.uk or call us on 01472 323360.

From today, councils can’t charge for your DIY waste at recycling centres

Stuart Pearcey
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From today, councils can’t charge for your DIY waste at recycling centres
Households no longer have to pay to get rid of small-scale DIY waste at council recycling centres, boosting recycling and making it easier for people to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner. The Government has abolished the fees which around one-third of local authorities previously charged to dispose of DIY waste at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). From now on, all councils in England will now treat DIY waste the same as other household waste when it meets certain conditions, such as not exceeding two 50-litre rubble bags. This change has the potential to save households hundreds of pounds, with charges that were up to £10 an item, such as a piece of plasterboard, now scrapped. Today’s changes are the latest in a string of Government reforms to make it simpler and easier to recycle. That includes a consultation launched last week to make it easier to recycle household electrical items and simpler household collection rules announced in October. The DIY waste changes came into force as of 31 December 2023 and follow overwhelming public support at consultation, with 93% of householders agreeing with the plans to amend legislation. Recycling Minister Robbie Moore said: “We have delivered on our promise to make it easier and cheaper for people making home improvements to get rid of their waste properly.

“Removing charges for DIY waste at council recycling centres will help New Year home improvement projects become a reality and ensure that those disposing of waste responsibly aren’t being penalised for doing so.”

The removal of the fees is part of the wider Government aim to tackle waste crime and fly-tipping, which is estimated to cost the economy £924m per year in England.

Lincolnshire sends devolution deal plans on 21-date whistle stop tour

Stuart Pearcey
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Lincolnshire sends devolution deal plans on 21-date whistle stop tour

Lincolnshire residents can find out more about plans for a historic devolution deal for Greater Lincolnshire which could bring more than £700m into the region.

Across the country, devolution is moving important choices about local investment, infrastructure and training from government to local decision makers. Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council, and North East Lincolnshire Council have secured a devolution deal with government worth over £750 million which, if progressed, means money and power can move from government to decision-makers in Greater Lincolnshire.
Between Starting next week, a devolution roadshow will visit the length and breadth of Greater Lincolnshire as part of the public consultation that runs until 29 January. Stops have been confirmed for Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Sleaford, Ashby, Boston, Gainsborough, Crowle, Scunthorpe, Bourne, Immingham, Brigg, Louth, Grantham, Stamford, Barton upon Humber, Skegness, Spalding, Market Rasen, and Lincoln. The events are a great opportunity to drop in and find out more about the landmark deal, which would bring £720m in extra cash, new jobs, and a host of new powers to the area, supercharging skills and creating game-changing opportunities for young people in the process. Cllr Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We really value the opportunity to talk to residents face to face, so these events are a great way for people to find out more about the difference devolution could make in their community. There will be local councillors and staff there to answer any questions, and you can have your say by completing the devolution survey.” The full list of events is:
  • 09/01/2024 – Cleethorpes Library, Cleethorpes 1:30pm – 5:30pm
  • 10/01/2024 – Ashby Community Hub, Ashby 3pm – 7pm
  • 10/01/2024 – The Source Riverside Church, Sleaford 3pm-7pm
  • 10/01/2024 – Grimsby Town Hall 5:30pm – 7:30pm
  • 11/01/2024 – Centre4 Grimsby 12pm – 4pm
  • 11/01/2024 – Boston Utd Football Club – 3pm-7pm
  • 12/01/2024 – Gainsborough Trinity Foundation, The Venue at Roses– 11am-2pm
  • 12/01/2024 – Crowle Market Hall 3pm – 7pm
  • 13/01/2024 – Scunthorpe Central 9am – 1pm
  • 15/01/2024 – Wake House Bourne 11.30am-2.30pm
  • 15/01/2024 – Immingham Library 11am – 3pm
  • 16/01/2024 – Freeman Street Market, Grimsby 11am – 3pm
  • 16/01/2024 – The William Cecil Hotel 2pm – 5pm
  • 16/01/2024 – Brigg, Angel Ballroom 3pm – 7pm
  • 17/01/2024 – Meridian Leisure Centre, Louth – 11am-2pm
  • 18/01/2024 – Jubilee Centre, Grantham – 3pm-7pm
  • 18/01/2024 – Baysgarth Community, Barton-upon-Humber Hub 3pm – 7pm
  • 18/01/2024 – West Marsh Community Centre, Grimsby 12noon – 3pm
  • 19/01/2024 – Storehouse, Skegness – 11am- 2pm
  • 20/01/2024 – Springfield Events Centre, Spalding- 11am-2pm
  • 22/01/2024 – Festival Hall, Market Rasen – 3pm-7pm
  • 25/01/2024 – The Showroom, Lincoln – 3pm – 7pm
 
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