On Wednesday 17 February, the Regulator for Social Housing published the following notice with respect to South Kesteven District Council’s failings, over more than a decade, to comply with some quite fundamental health and safety legislation across its portfolio of Council Houses and sheltered housing schemes. The failings include lack of fire, electrical and asbestos checks as well as more general stock condition surveys.

Regulatory Notice – February 2021

Registered Provider:
South Kesteven District Council.

Regulatory Finding:

The regulator has concluded that:

a) South Kesteven DC has breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard; and

b) As a consequence of this breach, there was the potential for serious detriment to South Kesteven DC tenants.

The regulator will work with South Kesteven DC as it seeks to remedy this breach and will continue to consider what further action should be taken.

The Case

As a local authority registered provider, South Kesteven DC is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home standard. The Home standard requires registered providers to have a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service and to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of occupants in their homes.

Our assessment of the information received through a self-referral from South Kesteven DC is that the Council has failed to meet statutory health and safety requirements. Specifically, the requirements in relation to fire safety, the safety of heating appliances, electrical safety, and asbestos safety. In respect of fire safety, South Kesteven DC has a statutory duty to regularly assess the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent the risk of fire. In this regard the regulator has learned that over a thousand remedial actions identified in fire risk assessments carried out in 2017 had not been completed. There have also been failings in ensuring that solid fuel heating appliances do not pose a risk to tenants. South Kesteven DC found annual inspections and cleaning of solid fuel heating appliances for a smaller number of properties had not been scheduled or completed in a timely way. With regard to electrical safety, South Kesteven DC is required to ensure that electrical installations are in working and safe condition both at the start of any tenancy and throughout that tenancy. South Kesteven DC has reported that none of the Council’s communal areas had an electrical inspection and just under half of all its properties had out of date inspections, some of which were more than ten years old. For asbestos safety, South Kesteven has reported that nearly three hundred surveys of communal areas were overdue and should have been completed in 2019. For these reasons, the regulator concluded that South Kesteven DC has breached the Home Standard, and as consequence, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants. Since identifying these issues, South Kesteven DC has strengthened its senior capacity and is developing an action plan to address the underlying weaknesses in its systems. A programme of work has commenced, and we have been assured by South Kesteven DC that it has taken immediate and appropriate action to ensure the safety of tenants while the programmes being delivered.

The Regulator’s Findings

The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home standard and has concluded that South Kesteven DC did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities across a range of areas.

Complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants. South Kesteven DC has demonstrated to the regulator the progress it is making to ensure the required statutory checks, and relevant safety actions, are completed, and that appropriate mitigations are in place in the meantime. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues, the durations for which tenants were potentially exposed to risk, and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that it is proportionate to find that South Kesteven DC has breached the Home standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period. Section 198A of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended) states that the regulator’s regulatory and enforcement powers may be used if a registered provider has failed to meet a consumer standard. In order to use regulatory or enforcement powers, as well as the failure to meet the standard, there should also be reasonable grounds to suspect that the failure has resulted in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants) or that there is a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants). South Kesteven DC has put in place a programme to rectify these failures and the regulator will therefore not take statutory action at this stage, as it has assurance that the breach of the standard is being remedied. The regulator will work with the Council as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.

This above text has been copied verbatim from the website of the Regulator for Social Housing.

While the rest of the country is talking about Covid, #BLM and Brexit, our special corner of Lincolnshire has been gripped by the thought of unveiling a new statue to Margaret Thatcher in her home town of Grantham. Loyal readers will remember the comments I made at the time of the Planning Application by GCHA back in 2018 but recently the decision by the entirely Conservative SKDC Cabinet to commit £100,000 towards an ‘unveiling event’ has stirred the world’s media once again. I have personally spoken to the national and international press as well as some of our friendly local media including BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Nub News.

First there was a Cabinet meeting back on 1st December which included a seemingly innocuous agenda item entitled “Public Realm Improvements”. The agenda pack was published with a note stating that the relevant papers would follow later.

It was only after the meeting that we discovered that a 9ft bronze statue of the Iron Lady represents an improvement to Grantham town centre and that the statue should unveiled at a ceremony costing £100,000. The decision had been taken without any scrutiny and consequently I used the ‘call-in’ procedure to ensure that other councillors would have a chance to the contribute to the debate.

This is just a quick note to say thanks to everyone for has supported my participation in the Age UK #RunYourAge January fundraising challenge.

I’m delighted to report that I finished the challenge on Sunday 31st with a 10k run via Maxey and Northborough.

I ran it in 57m11s smashing my PB (Personal Best) and enabling me to tick an item off my bucket list (run a 10k in less than an hour).

It brought my total distance run for January to 55.75km which is slightly more than was necessary but it’s always good to go ‘the extra mile’.

I was euphoric at the end and even more so when, the following morning, a flurry of donors took me past the fundraising target as well as the distance target.

I still have to finish writing up the blogs of each village run but it has been really good for me to become better acquainted with the villages and footpaths around the Deepings. Thank you all so much!

During January 2021, I am participating in Age UK’s ‘Run Your Age’ event by running a total of 51km. It would be great if you would SPONSOR ME to raise funds to support older people in Lincolnshire and across the UK!

On Sat 9th Jan, I ran through Wilsthorpe, Obthorpe and across to Baston in a loop of 10km bringing my ‘running total’ to 33km.

My run started on King Street which is a Roman road which dissects the County Council Division of ‘Deepings West and Rural’. I first followed a footpath across a field of beet to a bridge over the River Glen, in fact the first bridge after the West Glen merges with the East Glen. This brought me into the small village of village of Wilsthorpe (formerly Wivelestorp) which comprises only forty houses including two farms.

At the centre of the village is the church of St Faith of Acquitaine, Wilsthorpe. Due to Covid, the church was not open but I had visited once before when I attended a meeting of Braceborough and Wilsthorpe Parish Council which uses the church in the absence of any other appropriate meeting place in the village. I remember it being quite cold and gloomy (the church, not the Parish Council) but it was, as I recall, a winter evening.

St Faith’s church is one of the smallest in the area as well as the youngest church in the Uffington benefice, being only 300 years old. The tercentenary was celebrated in 2015 with a service led by the Bishop of Lincoln.

It was built in the 18th century, a fine example of early Georgian but in 1863 the building was altered by architect James Fowler which resulted in a Classical & Gothic mash-up.

If Dan Brown ever makes a sequel to the Da Vinci code set in rural Lincolnshire, then St Faith’s church might be a good place to start. The stained glass above the altar would be right up his street while the ancient grafitti carved into the front of the building would give him plenty to think about.

Despite being only 300 years old, the church has somehow acquired a fine and authentic stone figure of a 13th century knight bearing a shield with the arms. It is thought to be that of the Wake family but this has not been proven. Hereward the Wake was an Anglo-Saxon originally from the Bourne area who led resistance to the Norman invasion & became known as ‘Hereward the Outlaw’ and ‘the last Englishman’ because he held out against the occupying army until 1081. The Wakes are remembered fondly in and around our area with a road in Market Deeping named after Joan Wake and, when I was young, there was a radio station at the other end of the fens named after Hereward. The car stickers used to read “Hereward is a-wake!” which I thought was quite clever even if the pun had been over 900 years in development.

At the end of 2016 the church steeple was repaired to stop ingress of rain and pigeons. This was funded by grants from various organisations and fund-raising withisin the village, including Open Gardens and a ‘Pimms and Plants’ evening, which is now an annual event!

Wilsthorpe was also known for providing Peterborough (14 miles away) with gallons of water each day after a 52ft deep well was drilled in the 19th Century.

Shortly after passing the church my route converged with the Macmillan Way which is one of a small number of long distance walks which takes a route through South Kesteven. The path ahead therefore led towards Boston while the path in another direction could have taken me over 200 miles to Abbotsbury in Dorset! I ran past a total of three people before leaving the village to the North towards the hamlet of Obthorpe. I was a bit surprised to be confronted with a very slight incline. The first since I started this month’s running challenge and possibly the last.

I continued on the Macmillan Way across the a15 at Kate’s Bridge which, for centuries if not millenia, has been a point of interest on the route between Peterborough and Lincoln. It would have been the point at which traffic crossed the aforementioned King Street Roman road met the River Glen and the nearby ‘Thetford’ suggests there was a ford there. By the 13th century it was known as ‘Caterbrig’ suggesting that a bridge had been established. The current bridge was built in the 19th century as part of the turnpike route. Travellers can still refresh themselves at the nearby filling station which now sells petrol.

Kate’s Bridge is also the point at which King Street meets Car Dyke which is another construction of the Roman era which eight-five miles along the western edge of the Great Fen. The origin and purpose of the Car Dyke are a mystery, but it is generally accepted as marking the western edge of the Fens. To the South it runs through the middle of Market Deeping, roughly along the course of Godsey Lane.

Baston village has a church, a primary school as well as Kirkstone House private school. It is divided by the busy A15. I was particularly grateful for the footpaths because I have previously tried to run alongside the A15 towards Kate’s bridge but the lack of footpath provision makes it very dangerous.

The River Glen to the East of the A15 was particularly picturesque as I ran. After about a kilometre, I turned to the South towards Baston entering that village via a footpath adjacent to the cemetery.

After Baston, my route wend its way back onto King Street completing the loop and the run.

I am delighted to report that at the South Kesteven Full Council meeting of 17 December, Councillors agreed unanimously with my proposal that the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees could benefit from a bit more, well, overview and scrutiny!

A report was presented to the Council by ‘Chair of Chairs’, Cllr Graham Jeal (Con), on behalf of the four Overview and Scrutiny Committees was supposed to be only for noting. However, I introduced a ‘motion without notice’, in line with the Council’s constitution, in order to recommend that:

“the role structure and performance of the scrutiny committees should be referred to a suitable independent individual, nominated by the LGA, to review whether or not it is fit for purpose and how it might be improved”

I suggested that the Council Leader, Cllr Kelham Cooke (Con) should not be involved in the debate because he had previously claimed that he didn’t get involved in the management and workings of scrutiny committees (even though he personally appoints the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of all the Scrutiny Committees which are [ahem] coincidentally filled entirely by Conservatives. However, I was surprised and delighted when he did intervene to ask his Conservative colleagues to support the review of scrutiny which was then passed unanimously.

Here is the text of the speech I made to encourage the Council to review its scrutiny function:

“Thank you very much, Chair,

I’m pleased to see that we’re scrutinising scrutiny for a change, but this report is a bit like a “What I did in the holidays” type of essay. A list of information without any reflection or self-criticism.