West Lindsey District Council leader shares his hopes ahead of the general election

​It promises to paint an interesting picture in Lincolnshire particularly, where pleas for fairer funding and financial boosts have been regular in recent times — whether it be to plug gaps in budgets, or assist in potential Levelling Up projects.

Ahead of the election, we asked council leaders what they are hoping can be pledged and delivered for the county by a new government.

West Lindsey District Council has had its fair share of run-ins with the current administration, specifically the Home Office and its plans to house asylum seekers at the former RAF Scampton.

This threatened to scupper some £300 million of private investment by Scampton Holdings Ltd, to turn the site into a heritage and education centre reflecting on the history of the base — from the Dambusters to the Red Arrows.

It saw the Liberal Democrat-led council take the Home Office to the High Court, but a decision was made to uphold the asylum seeker holding site plans last year. Since then, a compromise has been struck and there will be around 800 migrants at the base, rather than the initially planned 2,000.

Council leader Trevor Young said he expects a “wake up call” for the Conservatives, and hopes that whoever wins the election can allow for the investment to be seen through.

He said: “Labour has announced on two occasions that they would stop plans at RAF Scampton and not use it [for asylum seekers], but we would still expect a continuation of negotiations if a Labour government were to win.

“Rest assured we would be holding them to account the same way we have the current government, and the single most important thing for us is that the £300 million development continues, in order to secure the future heritage of the site and create job opportunities for Lincolnshire.”

Coun Young went on to say that he felt the council was in a “really good position” following £20 million regeneration plans in Gainsborough starting to take shape, and securing the “best possible outcome, though not ideal by a long way” at the aforementioned RAF Scampton.