Stamford is often viewed as the jewel in the South Kesteven crown, renowned for being England’s finest stone town with a vibrant town centre and a place firmly on the tourist trail.
It is a beautiful town, surrounded by some lovely Cotswold-esque villages. The challenge with Stamford, is how we preserve the heritage and architectural purity whilst enabling progress so that we provide local job and housing opportunities for all generations.
That is why developments like St Martin’s Park are so important and why our public consultation, which has just drawn to a close, are central to the development of our plans. I was determined that we should continue with this process, with the aid of technology, despite the necessary lockdown restrictions.
Alongside supporting our communities – residents and businesses – throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, our executive team is working on a new Corporate Plan.
The plan, which is still in draft form and to be consulted upon with fellow councillors, will set out our priorities for the whole of our district. It will take account of our revised budget due to be presented to full council in September. It will give us a clear, ambitious but pragmatic vision, to which our residents will be able to hold us to account.
As I said when I had the honour of being elected as Leader of South Kesteven District Council, our ambitions for the district remain largely the same. How we get there will take account of the challenges we face and the current and future needs of those we serve.
Growth and development do mean change and change can be emotive, but things cannot stay the same, because that leads to stagnation, and the road ahead is going to be tough enough as we come to terms globally, nationally, and locally, with the new normal, post-Covid-19.
So when it comes to how we will recover from the impact of Covid-19, there isn’t a silver bullet and there is still much uncertainty. But we are confident that we are in a better position than many parts of the country to recover well.
The challenge, as we prepare for the second phase of the reopening of our town centres, will be to temper enthusiasm with necessary caution and patience by continuing to follow Government guidelines. If we don’t, we risk a local spike in the number of coronavirus cases, and that could lead to a localised lockdown, potential tragedy, and an unnecessary mountain for our local economy to climb.
We’ve made it through the response phase by working together and showing mutual kindness and respect – in abundance. We must continue in that vein to ensure that the last 15 weeks really count. We’ve come so far; it would be such a waste, and a travesty, to throw it all away.
