Organisations in the Greater Lincolnshire area have today submitted an expression of interest to the Government for ambitious plans to bring more local power and responsibility to the area.

The Greater Lincolnshire LEP is one of the bodies involved in the submission, which also includes the area's councils, police force and NHS clinical commissioning groups.

The proposal asks for a range of central government powers and associated funding to be given directly and devolved locally to set priorities and make spending decisions in order to improve quality of life and prospects for greater prosperity in Greater Lincolnshire.

The organisations involved believe the services and programmes concerned would be run more efficiently and achieve better outcomes for Greater Lincolnshire residents than the present nationally run arrangements deliver to the area.

Each organisation would retain its current responsibilities and powers but would work together to meet any new powers agreed with government. The proposal document invites the government to enter into discussions about these additional powers and the arrangements that would be necessary to operate them.

The expression of interest focuses on the benefits of this approach, including:

• accelerating economic growth
• improving transport links regionally, nationally and internationally
• tailoring skills to the needs of local employers to boost employment opportunities in the county
• managing flood risk
• meeting the housing needs of all our residents
• joining up health and care services to improve people’s health and wellbeing

Ursula Lidbetter MBE DL, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, commented: “I wholeheartedly support devolution of Central Government powers to Greater Lincolnshire. To achieve the ambitions of our Strategic Economic Plan, it’s imperative that Greater Lincolnshire have devolved accountability and budgets for the key levers of our economy.

“Through the devolution process the Greater Lincolnshire LEP will continue to work with our public and private sectors, ensuring by alignment of our resources that local businesses retain a strong voice in the decisions and planning of investment in our area."