Council Round-Up: Mayoral Selection, Zero Degrees, And Watts Lane

February 27th 2013

I rarely report everything that gets discussed at council meetings, because otherwise these round-ups would be interminably long and full of trivia. So I try to stick to what I think concerns the wider community. But the town council meeting of Tuesday 26th February was more self-obsessed than usual, so this account is quite pared-down.

The Mayor's remarks

The Mayor mentioned an appeal for knitters to come forward and knit bees and flowers in support of Louth In Bloom.

"The mayor will not be dressing as a bee," she said.

Good, because we were worried about that.

More seriously, she voiced concerns about NHS Lincolnshire and the performance of the ambulance service.

"We are right to challenge it, we are falling short of the targets."

The Louth Hospital is also undergoing a change of ownership, to a government-owned limited company called PropCo, whilst the existing ownership body will soon be dissolved.

Watts Lane

Councillors discussed the state of the corner of Watts Lane, and concerns about vermin and walls that have been knocked down. "It's a real blot on our landscape," the mayor said.

This is the one of the areas of Louth that I mentioned in my round-up of local grot spots back in September 2012, on the site that used to be Brown's garage. As you can see in these pictures, the situation has not improved lately.

Zero Degrees

Alan Mumby of the Louth Town Partnership came to give a presentation about the Zero Degrees festival. It's really an umbrella brand for a number of local festivals, some of which have been going for years and others that are fairly new. Zero Degrees "doesn't take over anything", according to Mr Mumby. However they do have a small budget for marketing and promotion, currently £1350.

He outlined plans for the direction of the festival, including more street events. "We want to bring in more things like comedy. So far the response from the town has been fantastic."

Several councillors are also on the Louth Town Partnership, so it's no surprise that they were very positive about Zero Degrees.

Mayoral selection

This issue affects approximately 23 people at any given time, which is to say the town councillors and the two town clerks. Maybe it also affects their families a little bit as well. But for most people of Louth, the Mayor is largely a ceremonial role and who gets to wear the red robes is inconsequential. So I'm going to give this issue the attention it deserves, and not the hour or so that town councillors gave it in their meeting.

The council debated how the mayor should be chosen. Then they voted that mayors should serve as deputies first.

Park Avenue

There was a planning application for the area near the football pitch at Park Avenue. The applicant wants to turn the area into a "sports legacy zone", whilst knocking down and rebuilding the existing shop and takeaway. This "sports legacy zone" would take the place of a field which is generally used for football, and instead it would be more like a play park.