Lincolnshire Beaches Amongst The Best In Europe.

Fantastic news this morning that the beaches in Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton On Sea have again been awarded the Blue Flag.

The Blue Flag is awarded for beaches, marinas and boating tourism operators as a statement of the high environmental and quality standards they maintain. The Blue Flags are awarded on an annual basis. It is the work of the local East Lindsey District Council operators that maintain the highest of standards and they should be thoroughly congratulated for there wonderful efforts. Out in all weathers from early morning until late in the evening they fight the good fight to keep our beaches in a pristine condition.

There are miles and miles of golden, sandy beaches stretching from Skegness north to Mablethorpe and beyond which are enjoyed by millions of visitors annually. Long may this continue. 

Central beach Skegness. Blue Flag awarded!

Let's now see the flags proudly displayed above our wonderful coastline and let's use the fine achievement of the continuing award as an attraction in its own right. 

A52/A158 They Are Our Arteries - East Lindsey Coast

It is normal perhaps for coastal areas to have poor roads leading to them, unless of course they are close to a motorway network such as Blackpool but that is an exception. On this coast we do not have the benefits of motorways, or even for that matter dual-carriageways. We rely on the "A" roads to bring in the business. Are the "A" roads we rely on a help or a hindrance in that regard?

My view is that they are a hindrance.

Every summer, every busy weekend, every Bank Holiday and throughout the main holiday season this coast is let down by the two main roads leading to it.

For instance. Last Saturday I travelled up to Lincoln at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The traffic heading west, away from the coast was running smoothly but travelling in the opposite direction the traffic was horrendous. Slow moving traffic and stationary traffic for miles. The worst section was that section heading into Horncastle. The traffic was backed up and stationary all the way to the Caistor turn-off, several miles in length. The reports on the radio told me that Wragby was just as bad but as I turned off the A158 on the Bardney road I will have to take their word for it.  Radio Lincolnshire were also reporting the "normal problems" on the A52 as well.

This issue has been known about for decades and very little has been done about it. A bypass was provided for Burgh-Le-Marsh some 8 years ago. Whilst roads have been improved in the west of the county, with a lot more to come, specifically to deal with bottlenecks and known problems, little has been done in our area. It is not good enough.

Sad to say that there is little that is going to be done in the foreseeable future as there is no mention of our area in the Lincolnshire 4th Local Transport Plan 2013/14 - 2022/23 a link to which I have attached at the bottom of this article. In brief the projects that will be/are being implemented over the next 10 years are:

• Lincoln Eastern Bypass
• Grantham Southern Relief Road
• Spalding Western Relief Road

The Transport Strategies for individual towns are:

• Boston Transport Strategy
• Grantham Transport Strategy
• Lincoln Transport Strategy
• Gainsborough Transport Strategy.

What does that mean for this area? Simply that there are no plans whatsoever in this area for the next 8 years and if there is a 5th Local Transport Plan and this area was lucky enough (sic) to be considered then it could be 10 years after that before anything is done and then there is no guarantee!

When I have raised this issue previously I have been told that the problem we have is that our issues are seasonal and therefore not as high a priority as other areas! With that in mind it is difficult to see any hope for the improvements we desperately need is there?

It was also pointed out that we would be getting a Western Relief Road for Skegness which will link the A52 and the A158. This would relieve the congestion is Skegness Town Centre. Perhaps it would but at what cost? The A158 is already nose to tail for miles out of Skegness at busy times so pushing the traffic from the A52 to the A158 is only going to make things worse in that area! Indeed with Roman Bank (A52) heading north being an absolute nightmare already, it makes even less sense. Without a road running north from the A158 towards Ingoldmells and beyond, extending the relief road, there will be little if any improvement to the overall traffic congestion.

I think folks that we are the forgotten area when it comes to road infrastructure. A decent road from Boston to the coast and a decent road from Lincoln to the coast would open up the whole of East Lindsey as well as the coast. Decent roads would encourage more inward investment, creating businesses and jobs for this area.

In addition it would make the journey far more pleasant for the hundreds of thousands of people that come to the coast for a break. That would surely encourage more to come? Given that one of the priorities of the County Council is to double the worth of tourism to the county, then surely money spent on making the primary tourist area in the county more accessible should be viewed as a priority? I live in hope rather than expectation!

As I referred to in the title of this piece. The A52/A158 are our arteries. We all know what happens when arteries become blocked don't we?

Do You Have One? Listen Up!!

You may have heard that the service provided by the BBC Local Radio Network is be reduced in the near future, with less specialist music programmes and much more "area" broadcasting rather than local. For instance here in Lincolnshire, BBC Radio Lincolnshire will be broadcasting more "East Midlands" based programmes during any 24 hour period rather than county specific programmes. This is something that is "not good" to say the least.

What can we do about it? Simple. Tune into your local Community Radio, if you have one locally. These are stations, available over different platforms, internet, FM, AM. DAB etc. that are based in your local communities and which broadcast for them, providing lots of local news, events, sports etc.

Here in the East Lindsey area of Lincolnshire, we have Lindsey Coast Radio which at the moment is only available on the internet and can be accessed at www.lindseycoast.org.uk 24 hours a day. It is planned to widen the availability in the near future by moving to other platforms as well as remaining of the web. The station came into being in February 2011 and is now going from strength to strength. Listener numbers are increasing on a weekly basis with not only local people tuning in but also those people who come to the Lincolnshire Coast for their holidays doing the same and continuing to do so throughout the year, after they have returned home, to enable them to keep in touch with what is happening here!!

At the moment most of the live content happens in the evenings and on Sundays, which is the busiest day. The live content is expanding with Heavy Rock, Grunge, Reggae and Ska, Blues, Country, Folk and general magazine programmes all available. At all other times the station is broadcasting a mix of music to suit all tastes.

With the reduction in service from your "local" BBC radio station soon to become a reality, search out your own local Community Radio station as an alternative. You will be pleasantly surprised I am sure. All are run by vounteers and deserve your support.

20 Million Pounds - We Will Have It!!!

Seems as though the good folks of Scunthorpe are up in arms because somebody wants to build a £20 million shopping centre in their area. This will bring around 300 jobs to the area. They are not in favour of it because it may affect their town centre. Fair enough!!

All I would like to say is that if they don't want it, we in East Lindsey would snap the hands off the developers who have this money to invest.

Skegness would be my preferred location but anywhere in our area would be fine with me!!

The Highs And Lows Of Life

I think that I have rarely experienced so many soaring highs and diving lows in my life in such a short time as over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, I had a long-time ambition fulfilled by being elected to both East Lindsey District Council and also Skegness Town Council. The last few months of my life have been geared up to this election. I, like my party colleagues, have put so much work and effort into the campaign and the election itself that to be rewarded as we were was fantastic. Personally I was completely blown away by my election and also hugely pleased with the success that my colleagues have also enjoyed. To have been awake most of the time since early Thursday morning until now is a small price to pay, although I am paying it, believe me.

Then we get the low. Off I went to the home of Lincoln City, Sincil Bank, this afternoon, in the knowledge that my beloved Imps needed a win at home against Aldershot to ensure their survival as a Football League team. After not much huffing an puffing by a Lincoln side that only appeared to half-care about the plight they were in, a 3-0 home defeat ensued. Given that Barnet, our main relegation rivals, conjured up a 1-0 home win against Port Vale and thereby eased above us in the league, we have been condemned to a long and cold stay in Non-League football. A huge and despairing thing to happen to such a club with a history such as ours. So now I am as far down in the dumps as I was high in the clouds only 24 hours ago.

Life is nothing if not interesting and at least it is not predictable. Cest La Vie. Onwards and upwards. I will be working for the residents of Skegness whilst at the same time the hierarchy at Lincoln City Football Club are working to get my beloved team back into the football league.

I hope we both have a huge measure of success in our endeavours!!!!!!!