I would like to thank Grantham Nub News for giving me the opportunity to identify myself as one of the candidates for the forthcoming Lincolnshire County Council elections.

My name is Cllr Mark Whittington and I am the current sitting County Councillor for the Grantham Barrowby Division.

I am delighted to have been re-selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Division. I have lived in Barrowby right in the centre of the Division for the past eleven years and have been the County Councillor for the past six. I am also born and bred in the local area and apart from a few years living away when I was at university and then training as an accountant in London the Grantham area has always been my home.

I was educated at the King's School and am a member of the school's Old Boys Society. For many years I played, coached and refereed rugby at Kesteven RFC. I am married, have a son, a stepson and four granddaughters all aged five and under.

I have often been asked why I became a councillor. The answer is a simple one. I want to make a difference and help improve the lives of local people and to represent their interests and concerns.

The Grantham Barrowby Division is a very large and diverse one covering the villages of Allington, Barrowby, Sedgebrook and Woolsthorpe by Belvoir together with a large part of the west of Grantham including the Earlesfield Estate and the area around Harlaxton Road.

Each part of the Division has their own specific local concerns, whether it be flooding issues out in the villages or anti-social behaviour on the Earlesfield. But what all of these areas have in common is a shared interest of wanting to feel safe and secure in their homes and local communities and having good local public services. This is particularly relevant at the moment as we begin to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and has normality is gradually re-established.

Nationally this has been recognised by the Conservative Government which has spent over £400 billion pounds to support people, businesses and community services. The County Council received nearly £50 million pounds of this to support such important services as adult social care and children's services. More locally still I was awarded £3,000 to spend on supporting both local community groups in the villages and also the Earlesfield Community Church in the valuable work they undertook to support vulnerable local people.

People focused services have also been very dear to my heart which is why over the past four years I have served on the Adult Social Care, Children's Services and Health scrutiny committees at the County Council. The work of these committees is vitally important in helping to both develop policy and also monitoring the performance and delivery of that policy. I have also served on a number of scrutiny review panels looking into such issues as the transitioning of vulnerable young people from children's into adult services and the use of s.106 monies paid by local developers to help provide

local services. I have also been the Executive Support Councillor for Finance and Resources supporting Cllr Martin Hill, the Leader of the Council and Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources in working with other councillors and officers to monitor and control the County Council's revenue and capital expenditure. I have been able to bring my professional skills as an accountant of 35 years standing to bear in ensuring that your money, because it is your money, has been spent efficiently and effectively and represents good value for your money. Dealing with local resident's concerns has always been a very important part of my role, whether this has been dealing with larger issues affecting whole communities such as dealing with flooding issues in Sedgebrook and Woolsthorpe by Belvoir or those affecting individual residents such as ensuring that they receive the care to which they are entitled. Over the past four years I have worked with officers from the County Council to resolve flooding issues on Bottom Street in Allington and on Sedgebrook Road in Woolsthorpe by Belvoir. I have also been working on a solution to the problem of the flooding at the Sedgebrook railway bridge which has often made the road between Sedgebrook and Allington impassable. I am delighted that recently a solution has been agreed upon and is now in the Highways Department workplan. I have also worked with Highways to provide a solution to speeding issues along Gonerby Lane near Allington with the introduction of white lines along the side of the road. I also lobbied the Highways Department to undertake significant road repairs at the junction of Trent Road with Dysart Road in Grantham and also at the Trent Road/Goodliff Road junction. I am currently working on a solution to the problems caused by the use of off road 4x4 vehicles on the Viking Way between Allington and Sedgebrook which have caused severe damage to this ancient right of way which has made it impossible for local people to walk, cycle and ride along. There currently are plans for 270 houses to be built in Barrowby over the next fifteen years and these have caused a number of concerns locally regarding the location and the design of these new houses and how they will fit into the village. I am a member of Barrowby Parish Council and have been acting as a liaison between the parish Council and the Planning Department at South Kesteven District Council to ensure that the views and concerns of both the Parish Council and the residents of Barrowby have been understood by the planners. This is an ongoing piece of work. Casework that I have undertaken over the past four years to help local residents has included ensuring that they receive the adult social care services to which they are entitled, resolving issues between parents and schools and assisting residents with housing issues; as well as dealing with issues relating to potholes, streetlights and overgrown trees and hedges. I am pleased that during the past four years there has been £2.7 million pounds spent on improvements to the buildings of a number of schools within the Division, £141,000 at Grantham Ambergate School, £273,000 at Barrowby Primary School, £94,000 at Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School, £135,000 at The Phoenix School on Gorse Lane and £2.2 million pounds at the Grantham Walton Academy. I have also been lobbying for some extra funding to improve the facilities at Grantham Fire Station and I am delighted that these have been successful and that the County Council has recently authorised the expenditure of £1.3 million pounds to refurbish and upgrade the buildings and to replace the existing training tower. Also located within the Division's boundaries are the first two stages of the £102 million pounds Grantham Southern Relief Road which when complete in 2023 will provide the east-west bypass which the town has needed for so very long. The opening of the road is potentially going to have an impact on the A1/A52 junction at Barrowby as traffic is diverted from and onto the A52 via the A1. My concern and that of local residents in Barrowby is that the current junction configuration may not be sufficient to prevent potentially dangerous queues of traffic forming on both the raised section of the junction and also along the A1 itself. I have raised these concerns with the Highways Department and I am pressing for an upgrade to the junction to try and resolve this. Understanding local communities is a very important part of the role of a councillor and has part of this I regularly attend all the Parish Council meetings within the Division; as well as being a member of Barrowby Parish Council in my own right. Parish Councils play a vitally important role in supporting their local village communities and are a valuable source of information as to what is going on locally. I work very closely with all of them in taking forward any issues they have with the County Council and support them in their work. I also attend the policing meetings which Lincolnshire Police run at the Meres Leisure Centre for the residents of the Earlesfield to attend and to discuss their local concerns. I have been working very hard over the past four years to support and to represent all of the residents of the Grantham Barrowby Division and to try and make the difference I spoke about earlier. My promise to you, the residents of the Grantham Barrowby Division, is that if I am re-elected as your County Councillor on Thursday 6th May is that I will continue to work hard on your behalf for the next four years and to carry on making a difference. My role is to serve you, the residents of the Grantham Barrowby Division. I look forward to receiving your support on Thursday 6th May.

• Could candidates please email details about themselves as Mark has, saying a bit about themselves, previous political experience and achievements, a career and clubs and societies background, what you hope to achieve and anything else you want to add.

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