WSF Latest News

November 2025

Sarah Fletcher, the Manager of Spalding Business Improvement District (BID) attended.
She started by sharing her background, that she is a Spalding person, and attended secondary school in Spalding. She worked at Internal Drainage Board; in the voluntary sector for many years and latterly at Healthwatch Lincolnshire. She then clarified the differences between SHDC, Spalding Town Forum and BID.
The town forum is the body with £20m to spend. BID is a member of that Board. 75% of this money has to be sent on capital ie buildings, infrastructure etc. She also stressed that this money is separate to the £28m currently being spent on Health and Well Being Centre (Castle Sports Complex). She encouraged the group to take part in any consultation event when the opportunity arises.
BID can be found at www.spaldingbid.co.uk or email hello@spaldingbid.co.uk
The BID is initially a 5 year programme but can be extended if its members wish. The members (local businesses) pay a levy of 2% of their business rate which equates to £150-£200pa for most businesses. However every business in the BID area has to pay even those who are not in favour of it. Total income this year is £170,000.
They are not part of the council and only the council leader attends meeting as he has expressed an interest to attend. They have established 4 priority areas which are: welcoming and safe; marketing and promotion; moving around; and backing business.
They have already produced 138 large hanging baskets and arranged for 4 hrs free parking in Vine St car park on Wed and Sat. They want to increase the number of hanging baskets and planters and possibly involve scout and guide groups etc.
There will be a ‘Big Tidy’ week 4 times a year where all litter, graffiti etc will be cleared up
Safety and security. Sarah was able to get an impact statement from a number of businesses about drug use and anti social behaviour from businesses. This resulted in one person being banned form the town centre and others receiving dispersal orders. So she stressed to report anything you see, as this can result in action.
Other thoughts being investigated are a Food Safari where several restaurants open their doors for taster menus, Big Screen showings of things like Wimbledon, world cup games, Bike nights classic car events car boot sales/ There is also to be a new Spalding app launched on 1 Dec which could result in a loyalty scheme

September 2025

We heard from Gill Walsh who gave a very interesting talk in Lincolnshire wildlife.
We then held the AGM where the Chair reported on what had happened throughout the past year, and gave thanks to all involved including the members for continuing to turn up and the volunteers for being there each time. Accounts were presented and accepted and Chair, Secretary and Treasurer were voted in along with the remainder of the committee. See committee page for details

July 25

Over 30 people listened to an interesting talk from Alan Lambert about his time served in Hertfordshire police. How he went from Hatfield to Jamaica, Antigua and beyond and from cattle rustling to investigating money laundering around the world.

Alan makes a small charge for his talks which he then donates through gift aid to Moulton Mill.

The chair confirmed that the donation made to the group last year had now been spent with over £400 spent on the Christmas lunch and another £720 spent on the recent trip to Stratford on Avon.
He also raised the subject of legacies as small amounts can make a significant impact eg 1% of £10000 means £100 to the group. He also mentioned that the Community Lottery had now raised £300 for the group and encouraged people to join.

Members were informed of a price increase for teas and coffees which have been 20p for many years. It was now going up from 20p to 30p.

We have been invited to attend this years panto (Rapunzel) at the South Holland Centre with group discount prices. There was little interest in this suggestion.

The next meeting will be the AGM and people were asked to consider nominations fro posts such as Chair, secretary etc

May 25

Nick Worth, leader of South Holland DC, attended the forum to answer questions from members. A number of questions had been sent in advance.
Q How much is SHDC able to influence the nature and types of shops in Spalding town centre
A Market forces generally influence the type and nature of shops. If planning permission is required eg change of use, then SHDC do have a say, although an example given was the all-night casino which was refused by SHDC but overturned on appeal by the government inspectorate.
He added the Spalding Town Board had recently been established with £20,000,000 of govt funds to rejuvenate the town centre. This could possibly be used to buy some shop premises and therefore have more control on rents and tenancies. Spading Business Improvement District has also started and this is managed by the retailer/business members and they have started by recently introducing hanging baskets into town.
Q How much influence and control does SHDC have over the management of of Halley Stewart field
A All councillors are Trustees of the charity that owns the field and it costs £20,000 pa to maintain. The new lease to the football club gives the football club a maintenance responsibility, and they have also invested in the facility with new stands and shortly a new all weather astro turf pitch. This is likely to encourage and enable community use.
In response to questions from the room, for information it was the Flower Parade committee themselves who declined an offer to use this facility in 2025

For further information see link
or visit the Library section

March 25

At the first meeting of the year 34 people attended and were provided with exercise from Roseanna at Adults Move. Everyone was very entertained and enjoyed it.

We then heard from Jo Ireland, a Community Connector. Jo is based at Tonic Health in Spalding and her aim is to improve local Mental Health services by supporting people to stay well in their own homes.
By providing signposting where needed to support a healthier population, reduce impact on primary and secondary care services eg depressed, lonely ,anxiety, long term illness.

Jo covers Spalding and Pinchbeck area and her colleague Vanessa covers South Lincs rural.
They also work with a partnership board where 70 people attend including speakers and have a working group to provide funding pots.
They can also issue food vouchers in hardship cases and run drop in sessions.
She provided two case studies to support their work

We also discussed various locations for the summer outing with Stratford on Avon coming out on top