Dear Friends,

A huge thank you for the fantastic support for the elections with excellent results, high turnouts and fantastic votes of support. We have certainly positioned ourselves firmly as the alternative to Conservatives, with huge numbers of votes and the largest group after the Conservatives. We have clearly demonstrated that Independents have a very important role in the new Council, in touch and directly representing the public.

Congratulations to 6 new and 2 standing Independent councillors;

Out of the whole Council only the two standing Independent councillors got over 2000 votes, Chris Brewis 2161 and Marianne Overton 2030, the two with the highest number of votes in Lincolnshire on just over 40% turnout.

Commiserations to Richard Austin who was narrowly put into second place by the Conservative.

Congratulations to new Independent councillors taking the seat for the first time;

Michael Brooks Boston Rural 1096
Ray Newell of Boston West 525
Bill Aron of Horncastle and Tetford 1159 from Michael Clarke Con
Graham Dark of Spalding South 981
Jim Swanson of Spilsby Fen, 1237 from Julia Pears Con
John Hicks of Stamford North 786 from Brian Sumner Con

Assuming we can work together, we are eight, twice as many as before. Other Independents did brilliantly and had a solid response from the electorate, many of them second only to the Conservatives.

Sarah Devereaux 981 votes, Gerry Clare 406, Alison Austin 283, Trevor Holmes 762, Helen Powell 1044 Tim Bradley 387, Stuart Mc Bride 511, Bruce Wells 630, Rob Hearmon 464, Alwyn Todd 493 Hannah Woodruff 657, Paul Wood 1331 Giles crust 752, George Horton 345, Daniel Simpson 771, Terry Brown 758, Tom Butterfield 286, Alan Woodhead 846, David Suiter 774, Liz Peto 1066, Jo Larrington 1114, Phil Scarlett 822, John Dawson 919, Edward Jeffrey 650, Craig Leyland 970

Well done indeed,

Marianne

Some Events

Organisations I work with have organised the following events, where you are likely to find me. Hope to see you at the Polling Stations on June 4th!

4th June Voting Independents Day! Elections for County Council & Europe

4th June Navenby Archaeology Group “The Big Dig”, Methodist Hall 7.30pm

6th June Dragonflies at Belton with West Kesteven Wildlife Watch 9.45am

6/7 June Wellingore Mill Field Grand Opening

7 June Vikings come to Navenby 10am all day on the Highdyke Open Space.

7 June Welbourn Open Farm 10am

13 June 10.30am Birds and Brunch with the British Trust for Ornithology at our place Hilltop Farm Welbourn

13 June Welbourn Annual Garden Fete

15 June Navenby Summer Dig begins

17 June Branston Community College Market of Enterprise 9.30-11am

18 June My meeting with Hazel Blears about women in local government! (Dare I ask her about you know what?!)

June 20/21st Huge Festival Weekend in Potterhanworth.

June 24/25th Lincolnshire Show Free tea and biscuits at the County Council members stand

June 27th Navenby School Fete - always an excellent event.

July 4th/5th Waddington Air Show

July 4th Mrs Smith’s Cottage 10th birthday celebration of the Friends.

JUNE NEWS 2009
Report from your local, Independent Councillor,
MARIANNE OVERTON
Some Good News Thanks to Rodney Wilson and Sheila and Peter Gill who opened their gardens. Volunteers of Mrs Smith’s Cottage, (including me) provided a plant sale and excellent teas, aising over £640 for the Cottage and McMillan nurses. Thanks to all.


Relate Lincolnshire send their thanks for the £417 plus gift aid, submitted from your kind
sponsorship of me running the Lincoln 10K. Congratulations Jolly Posh, celebrating
3yrs flourishing in Navenby High St.

Grant Success
Branston Village Hall was awarded £7,865 for the new heating from LCC and NKDC.
Welbourn Village Hall has been awarded a further £33,333 from LCC and NKDC. Tenders were opened this week and the contractor agreed for a July start.
Wellingore has been awarded £5,000 from the Big Lottery Breathing Spaces Fund.
Spires and Steeples
Cliff Baxendale and his wonderful team of volunteers produced another fabulous artwork in Nocton, unveiled this month: A carved wooden bench with the wildlife images reflected in the mosaic pond, created with 22,400 man hours!

Congratulations Our Church made a great setting for the beautiful work of our talented Navenby Art Group again. Chickens are arriving soon at the Eastgate Centre, Sleaford where Richard Wilson of Navenby has been working to help create their new home.

Highways and road improvements
I asked for a meeting and had a very good session with the Divisional highways manager and his boss, Alan Aistrup, looking at how the council prioritises its work and expenditure on highways. The system is fair and the A607 is now properly recorded. I saw up to date maps of detailed surface conditions and how that is fitted into the programme of work. I also looked at how the money is divided between different areas according to need and could see that we have our fair share, which is higher than most other areas and we have a 7.5% increase this year, which
is more than the average of 4%.

Expenses
Independents at LCC discussed expenses four years ago and confirmed that the only claims made would be the minimum necessary to carry out the work, simple really! I also pay all my own election expenses.

Marianne Overton

Marianne Overton is leader of the Lincolnshire Independents at Lincolnshire County Council. Marianne is spearheading the independent force for change to a more inclusive and representative government. With a sound track record of getting things done, Marianne is a key player in a string of improvements for the Parishes she represents. Particular successes include improvements in highways, new and better village halls, educational and youth activities, improved rural transport and better management of resources to keep taxes down. She also puts in substantial work for small businesses, improved social and health care, crime reduction and road safety. See www.independentvoice.org.uk

Marianne Overton states, “National Party Politics should not control our councillors. This is about putting people in Lincolnshire first. Being Independent means I am concerned about the needs of local people and looking for opportunities to do more. It is as simple as that. Lincolnshire Independents provide a network of support and expertise. We answer only to you and to our consciences. From experience, I know the importance of the freedom to speak up and vote to get the very best possible for our communities.”
“I have worked hard for our communities for some years: All I need from you, in return, is for you to come and vote!”