30 May 2012
District Council and British Sugar find a sweet way to beat the drought on the Lincolnshire Coast
Visitors to East Lindsey can be sure of a vibrant welcome this year with great planting schemes and sweet smelling flowers, despite the ongoing drought.
A partnership with British Sugar, means that East Lindsey District Council has been given access to harvested rainwater from operations at their Bardney site, which will be used to water flower beds throughout Mablethorpe, Skegness and Sutton-on-Sea.
In April, the Council appealed to Anglian Water for an exemption from the hosepipe ban after fears that it could affect the visitor economy by making flower beds throughout the seaside resorts almost impossible to maintain.
The first delivery of 30,000 litres of rainwater, which will come in two tankers, is expected on May 28, and will allow the District Council to begin putting in the summer bedding. The Council has access to further harvested rainwater as required to water the 76,000 plants, as well as rainwater harvested from its own buildings.
"Throughout the winter period, we have invested over £600,000 into foreshore improvements in Skegness and Mablethorpe, including revised planting schemes, to ensure the District looks great ahead of the main 2012 summer season," said Portfolio Holder for the Economy at the District Council, Councillor Craig Leyland. "Tourism is so vitally important to our economy - to local business and to jobs - and we need to ensure that when visitors come they want to come again, and our new planting schemes are one part of the much broader visitor offer in East Lindsey. I'd like to thank British Sugar for their support in helping us to do this."
Paul Hardy, Environment Manager from British Sugar commented: "Protection of the environment is integral to our operations and we are delighted to have been able to support East Lindsey District council in supplying rainwater collected at our Bardney operation. We are extremely proud the rainwater will be used to the benefit of local residents and visitors during the upcoming 2012 summer season."
For a number of years the Council has been introducing more sustainable ways of providing services to both reduce the cost of services and impact services have on the environment. In addition to rainwater harvesting, the Council has installed solar panels onto a number of its buildings in recent months, reducing its CO2 emissions by 71,000kg per year.
Notes to Editors - About East Lindsey District Council
East Lindsey Distrct Council is geographically one of the largest shire district councils in the country, and covers some 700 square miles with around 140,000 residents.
People living in East Lindsey pay the lowest rate of District Council Council Tax in Lincolnshire at £9.37 per month (average Band D home) for hundreds of services, including weekly refuse collection, leisure centre provision, housing support services, benefit support, economic development and tourism, arts and cultural events and planning and environmental protection, to name just a few.
The district of East Lindsey covers virtually the entire Lincolnshire coastline, including the seaside resorts of Skegness, Sutton on Sea and Mabelthorpe. In the heart of the distrct lies the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).