January Assembly Meeting - East Lindsey District Council

LEADER’S REPORT TO COUNCILThe scheme covers Lincoln, Boston, E & W Lindsey, N & S Kesteven and SouthHolland (excludes North and North East Lincolnshire).Help someone in need by referring them to R2W, the “Responders to Warmth”programme.The programme gives advice and practical help, anything from hot water bottles tocomplete boiler replacements, free of charge, to isolated and vulnerablehouseholders – and there are lots of them in Lincolnshire.Last winter the scheme found some people with no source of hot water other thanboiling a pot on an open wood fire!The eligibility criteria are straightforward: combined annual income below £23,500and savings below £10,000 or ill health and/or disability conditions or dependency onstate benefits.For full details, go to the Responders to warmth websitewww.responderstowarmth.co.uk or phone the call centre on 0845 606 4566.Last Winter the scheme did a huge amount of good distributing 10,000 self-helpguides and helping over 500 households and 2,000 individuals.The services range from FREE cavity and wall insulation, through to providing sandand salt to help prevent trips and falls in icy conditions. After contacting R2W andmeeting the scheme’s eligibility criteria, we then send a ‘ Responder’ to advise on howto keep fuel bills down and get more from your current heating appliances for less. Wecan also provide a ‘Handyman Service’ to undertake simple jobs to help keep clientscosy through the worst of the winter.PLANNING APPLICATIONSThe number of planning applications approved this year to the end of November is864 which equates to 87% a very positive approach by the Council, supporting growthand economic development in the district.BROADBANDThe OnLincolnshire Broadband project has reached its 10 000 th registration, and over3000 of those are from East Lindsey businesses and residents – this is the highestnumber of any of the districts, and is a good outcome from the promotional work thathas been done throughout our area…however, we still need more numbers, so pleaseencourage everyone you know to go onto the website and register their interest.http://www.onlincolnshire.org/HOMELESSNESSThe rough sleeper count for East Lindsey took place on 29th October 2012. Thisinvolved stakeholders being asked to report anyone they considered were sleeping4/7