Lincoln Eastern Bypass preferred bidder chosen

The council’s executive will be asked to approve Carillion as the contractor for the project when they meet on Tuesday 1 November. If approved, Carillion will be awarded the contract for the main works once the Department for Transport has formally confirmed the £50m funding provisionally granted in November 2011, which is expected to happen in December. The road will take around three years to complete. A separate contract will shortly be awarded via Network Rail to allow access under the Lincoln to Spalding railway line embankment. Access through the embankment is planned to be gained by April 2018. Updates on timings of specific areas of the scheme will be added to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass webpage once they are finalised.

Open day at new Sutton Bridge marina

People interested in applying for the moorings at Sutton Bridge’s new £900,000 Cross Keys Marina are being invited to an open day taking place on Tuesday 13 December.

There are five sessions throughout the day, each giving applicants a chance to tour the site, view promotional material and ask questions about the development.

It is anticipated that the leisure moorings will cater for up to 20 boats, while the commercial moorings will ensure that both the Nene navigation pilot boat and Eastern IFCA (a fisheries protection agency) can remain based in Sutton Bridge.

Boat owners are likely to be able to use the new facility from early 2017.

Appointments can be made by emailing [email protected] or phoning 01522 550500 by Wednesday 30 November.

Funding for the project has come from Lincolnshire County Council, a Section106 community development fund for Sutton Bridge, and the two commercial users.

Food Enterprise Zone in the pipeline for Holbeach

Lincolnshire County Council and South Holland District Council are working on proposals for a Food Enterprise Zone (FEZ) in Holbeach.

The FEZ would be located next to the A17 and A151 and designed to support agri-food businesses, with a particular focus on the food technology sector.

The multi-million pound development would create around 59,000sq m of new business space, capable of supporting over 2,000 jobs.

The University of Lincoln has already submitted a planning application to move part of their existing Holbeach campus to a new, purpose-built facility within the FEZ.

Wellbeing Service looks to the future

Residents are being asked for their views about a successful service that helps people stay independent at home.

The council is continuously looking to improve the Wellbeing Service, which supported over 5,000 people last year alone in Lincolnshire.

Anyone can complete the Wellbeing Service Survey – you don’t have to have used the service before to take part.

The Wellbeing Service offers short-term support to adults to help them live independently, as well as aids and adaptations for people’s homes and a monitoring and response service. The vast majority of the support is free to the user.

‘Exciting time’ ahead for heritage service

The council’s Executive has approved plans that will allow the heritage service to explore new ways to make money and sustain the service for the future.

Previously, money made by the attractions has gone back into the corporate pot and heritage has been given a budget.

The new model will mean that the service keeps everything it makes in order to fund its activities.

The service will have a target to fund itself by 2018.

Heritage half term events

In the run up to Halloween, join in with spooky fun at Lincoln Castle with terrifying tales and creepy characters, 22 – 30 October.

The ‘Spooky Prison’ week from 22-28 October will feature costumed characters telling gruesome and funny tales.

The week of haunted tales ends with Victorian Days of Fear on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October. Even more creepy characters from the Victorian grave digger to the rat catcher will be on hand to tell tales of witch trials and ghost stories.

Also coming up is Sci-Con which is returning to The Collection on 22 October with photo opportunities and chances to meet characters of Sci-Fi shows including Cybermen and Daleks.

The venue is also hosting a special Horrible History free event for all the family on 25 October from 10am – 3.30pm.

On 26 October the Museum of Lincolnshire Life will be welcoming the return of their traditional sweetshop. And on 27 October to celebrate Halloween, visitors can get stuck into creating gooey ghostly crafts.

Gainsborough Old Hall will be joining in the Halloween hi-jinks from 22-31 October with a Halloween Hunt throughout the Hall and a number of creepy craft activities.

Youth offending service gets top mark

Lincolnshire’s Youth Offending Service has received national recognition for its work with young offenders and victims of crime.

The service has been awarded the Restorative Justice Quality Mark by the Restorative Justice Council, evidencing that the service has met the highest standards of practice in restorative justice throughout Lincolnshire.

Restorative Justice is an important approach to tackling crime in the county and has been proven to reduce re-offending. In addition, it crucially provides victims with a clear input and voice to increase their confidence and satisfaction in the criminal justice process.

Energy from Waste update

In three years, Lincolnshire’s Energy from Waste plant, has achieved the target of disposing of most of the county’s non-recyclable rubbish without sending it to landfill.

The facility based near Teal Park in Lincoln, owned by Lincolnshire County Council and operated by FCC Environment, has processed over 500,000 tonnes of waste from homes and businesses in the county, resulting in 254,950,000 kilowatt hours of recycled electricity since 2013.

Creating renewable electricity to power local homes in the area, rather than sending waste to landfill, the plant has brought both environmental and cost savings to Lincolnshire residents.

Over its lifetime, we will save around £30m – a cost which we would have incurred if we’d continued to send our waste to landfill.

If you or your residents want to see the Energy from Waste plant in action book a trip by contacting Sally Hood on 01522 814318 or emailing [email protected].