South Holland District Council announces intention to enter new strategic partnership

South Holland District Council intends to enter into a new strategic partnership arrangement with Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council, subject to formal agreement by Members.

This comes after ongoing discussions over potential options for partnership arrangements with other councils in Lincolnshire following South Holland’s separation with Breckland Council in May.

Any potential arrangement is subject to a formal agreement from Members of Boston and East Lindsey at full council meetings set for Monday June 28 and Wednesday June 30 respectively.

Members from South Holland will then get the opportunity to vote at a full council meeting on Thursday July 1 to put in place interim arrangement to work up the final business case.

Currently, East Lindsey District Council and Boston Borough Council work together through a Strategic Alliance. Should all three councils formally approve any potential new partnership arrangement, it could create the largest council partnership in the country with a workforce of 1,000 staff.

South Holland District Council Leader Gary Porter believes the new partnership, if approved, will be good news for residents of South Holland and south east Lincolnshire region as a whole.

“If all goes to plan, this potential partnership has the capacity to deliver greater value for money for residents through the pooling of workforce together with an improved service delivery for the benefit of our local residents and businesses.

“I also believe this partnership will give us a stronger regional voice when it comes to discussions with national Government over funding which again is great news for the people of South Holland and the wider South East Lincolnshire region.”

Leaders of Boston Borough and East Lindsey District Councils, Cllr Paul Skinner (BBC) and Cllr Craig Leyland (ELDC), said: “We’re pleased that our Councils will soon consider the approach by South Holland District Council to join the Strategic Alliance.

“We’ve enjoyed some fantastic success during our first year working together as a formal Alliance and with a third partner wishing to come on board, we’ve no doubt it would be to the benefit of all involved, including residents and businesses across our area.

“As well as increasing the ability of all Councils to deliver for their communities, becoming a three Council partnership would increase our ability and profile to access opportunities that might otherwise be missed.”