Independents for North East Lincolnshire

14/05/2026

The Independents for North East Lincolnshire Group has four councillors and have had an influence over a number of council areas in recent years

07/05/2026

It shows just how much we are defined by our own hard work and commitment that we simply never remember to update this page and tend to focus on our own.

But today’s the day you get to help us elect three new Independents to hopefully make it 7 out of 42 elected in NEL.

We arent lone voices. This will be a council with no overall majority where even single voices will matter but with 7 of us we can make a world of difference, and we have always punched above our weight.

If you have any inclination to vote today please do. For candidates who have paid for their own materials and worked their socks off to prove their commitment, every single vote counts.

If you can tell someone else what a worthy vote we are too, even better.

Thank you all for your support. Today’s all about getting Jack, Dawn and Angela over the line.

We’ve got this 🧡

15/03/2026

Here we are. A team of people who want to change the way decisions are made locally. Who want to represent the areas we love and live in. Who want to be present, reply to emails, turn up and work hard for you all. We can’t fix everything or work miracles but we will do all we can to represent you and fight for the things that matter

Lyndsey Downes - Freshney Ward Independent Paul Bright for an Independent Freshney Ward Paul Henderson for an Independent Yarborough Ward Les Bonner for an Independent Yarborough Steve Holland Dawn Merryweather Jack Hilton Angela Greenfield

28/01/2026

Please share as widely as you can, and take part before 22.2.26

L x

30/12/2025

This is a big one folks.
The local plan is up for review. For those of you who are new here, the local plan is essentially the go to document that tells us where land is allocated for building or employment and sets out where will be built on from 2028 to 2043.

Essentially its a load of rubbish. The data experts tell us that looking at all things important (job creation, population growth estimates (declines in our case), demographics, demolition of old properties and so on, that we need just over 100 houses a year built. Labour have however imposed a target on us of over 600.... and there is no plan for building social housing to meet demand or tackle the massive empty homes issue.

You have chance to respond to the consultation until the end of Jan and its VITAL YOU DO!

You may wish to tell them the targets too high, you wish to remove the Freshney Valley from it and you think we need the right houses in the right place. As much or as little detail as you have time to..you can email, do it online or do it on the portal. Link below. We NEED 1000 replies to this. Please comment when you've done so we can track :) i do not apologise for the incoming messages I will send between now and the deadline asking you to all have your say. As ever you guys never let me down...GO GO GOOOOO

https://www.nelincs.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/local-plan-review/

Lyndsey

Welcome to Stage Three of North East Lincolnshire’s Local Plan review The Local Plan sets out how the borough will grow and develop in the years ahead, and the council...

17/07/2025

https://fb.watch/AV3Fdt3UEh/
Councillor Philip Jackson stated in this interview on the NEL Conservative page that Labour and the Independent group voted against the redevelopment of Grimsby town center in last December's full cabinet meeting. Well first to correct councillor Jackson, it was a full council meeting, and his statement is a complete misrepresentation of the facts. What was voted on in that full council meeting included the following;
a. increase the Council’s capital programme budget from £30.9m to £49.96m.
b. increase the external borrowing requirement of the Council by £11.26m.
c. undertake further borrowing as may reasonably be required, subject to such borrowing being affordable from within the Freshney Place budget envelope.
d. subject to any external grant conditions, to deal with the reallocation of Towns Fund monies of £3.7m to the Freshney Place Leisure Scheme.

I did not believe that there had been sufficient time to scrutinise the impact of this, and had reservations on the S151 officer being able to borrow even more money without further full council approval. I was also not happy with the decision to move funds from Central Library to the Freshney Place Leisure scheme without any assessment of what this meant for the Library building.

Councillor Jackson also claimed that it was Conservative government money that is paying for this scheme. Government money is public money and the government of the day decides where its spent.

A cynical person may be inclined to think the government of the day uses public money in areas where it wants to gain votes and hold onto seats.
You can make your own minds up as to what is factual.
Below is the statement I made at the full council meeting.

"I’m sure I will be accused of not being aspirational and not being part of the positive for this. We all want a vibrant town center, we all want this to succeed, but, I have reservations about the scale of borrowing, and the risk we are taking.
At last week’s scrutiny meeting on this report, I heard members say, we need to be cracking on with it, we need to create certainty, business leaders are behind it, Parkway Cinemas are behind it, we’ve got Starbuck’s and Nando’s signed up, and many others are just waiting for this decision. If we dither now, the whole thing may fall apart. It feels like we are being rail-roaded into agreeing to this, because we’ve come too far to turn back now.
Less than a month ago we were expecting a report, supported by a business case, to come before full council, asking for approval for a leisure scheme with borrowing of £10.9M.
Now we are being asked to approve borrowing of £22.16M and also to approve the S151 Officer be authorised to undertake further borrowing as may reasonably be required, with the caveat that such borrowing be affordable from within the Freshney Place budget envelope. This is akin to signing a blank check. Any additional borrowing should be scrutinised and have approval of full council.
It was also mooted in scrutiny that we may look to sell Freshney place in the Future, but that option does not appear in this report.
A couple of hours before last weeks scrutiny meeting on this, we received the business case which had not been updated with the current financial commitment we are being asked to approve.
As well as the significant increase in borrowing, we are pulling in funding from other sources. To keep the borrowing down. We are taking £7.8M from funds that had been granted for other uses, to support the Freshney Place scheme.
The remaining £3.7M from the £4.2M Towns fund earmarked for the library, has been transferred to the Freshney Place Leisure scheme, with no details being given on the potential impact this will have on the library building.
In June 2023 we had a briefing note that this money was to be spent on essential repairs to the building and refurbishment of the first and second floors. Now we have some vague references to future funding for this work and outcomes that are being delivered differently.
Anyone who has watched the news over the last few days will be aware the chancellor is asking for every government department to find savings of 5% of their budget for next year, so there are likely to be some lean years ahead for government funding.
By the time this proposed scheme is complete, many of those in this room will not be here, but the impact of today’s decision will be generational, and we all hope positive. So, let’s take a pause, look at the other options as outlined in the amendment, and ensure that we make the right decision."

18/05/2025

For those in Great Coates.

An update to the recent accident in which a child was injured by a car outside Great Coates Nursery school. The child suffered a broken leg and is now at home recovering.
The Highways department at NELC have been very proactive and had a presence outside the Nursery soon after the accident to observe traffic and behaviour. The incident report from the Police did not suggest that the highway was at fault or contributed to the collision. Fortunately in this case, the driver was not doing 30 mph or the outcome could have been much worse.

Some additional measures have been proposed as outlined below.

Replace the existing school warning signs located on both approaches to the Nursery site with new signs on yellow backing boards.
Cutting back of the vegetation that surrounds these signs. Some of this is in private gardens so letters will be written to those homeowners to ensure the signs are kept visible.
Add additional sections to the pedestrian guard rail immediately outside the Nursery gate
Replace the current speed warning indication sign with one which also records speed data. This will allow constant monitoring on how fast traffic is travelling in front of the Nursery.
NELC Highways have also made the Road Safety Education team available to provide road safety sessions for pupils and parents to encourage sensible and safe behaviour.

Ward councillors, Parish councillors and the Nursery also met on Friday to discuss this, and have asked that NELC Highways also consider a second speed warning indication sign close to the nursery in the direction of the church and also asked that the ‘30 still applies’ large road sign opposite the school sign be removed, as this could promote drivers doing 30mph. It was also asked that the double yellow road markings and zig-zag lines be repainted over as they are fading.

Whilst all these steps are very welcome, It was the consensus in the meeting that we need a permanent reduction of the speed limit from 30 to 20 outside the school. This has also been raised by many parents in discussions with the nursery. This has been raised in the past, but the feedback from Highways has been that the speed and accident data did not support a reduction in the speed limit. It was agreed at the meeting that a campaign will be started to gain public support to try and persuade the council to put a 20mph speed limit in place. There will be more to come on this in the near future.

10/05/2025

Following yesterday’s traffic incident in Great Coates village. We will work with NELC, the school, the parish council and residents to see what measures can be put in place to alleviate the different traffic issues being experienced in the village. We don’t yet know the circumstances around this tragic incident and these will need to be factored in to this. We hope the child involved makes a full and speedy recovery.

08/05/2025

Remembering the 3 men from Woad Lane in Great Coates who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can live in freedom - Great Coates village hall beacon lighting.

08/05/2025

Don't forget come along to Bishop King on Thursday 8th May from 9.30am and treat yourself to a tasty breakfast bun and a brew and join chatterbox in celebrating 80 years since the end of the war in Europe