The Performance Monitoring Panel of South Holland District Council met on Wednesday 10 December 2025 to discuss the council's performance, implemented planning decisions, and the South Holland Centre. Anglian Water was scheduled to provide an update to the panel. Councillors were also scheduled to look at the panel's work programme.

Q2 Performance Report 2025-26

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the council's performance between 1 July and 30 September 2025, as detailed in the Q2 Performance Report. According to the report, 90% of the council's performance metrics were in a positive position against targets.

Key areas of under-performance that were scheduled to be highlighted in the report included:

• The percentage of corporate complaints responded to within corporately set timescales, which was holding steady at 85.19% against a target of 95%.
• The percentage of fly-tips collected within 5 working days of being reported, which had dipped slightly below the target rate of 95% for the first time in a year.

The Q2 Performance Report Appendix 1 also included data on:

• Building control market share
• The value and number of grants awarded via Grants4Growth, and the number of businesses assisted through the scheme
• The percentage of planning decisions taken under delegation
• Council run stall occupancy level at markets
• The number of days to complete disabled facilities grants (DFG)
• The percentage of not in priority need decisions
• The percentage of intentional homelessness decisions
• Visitor numbers and ticket sales for leisure venues
• The number of gym members, swims and swimming lessons
• Food safety ratings
• The number of verified rough sleepers
• The number of properties improved through council intervention
• The percentage of main duty decisions made within 5 working days of the end of the relief duty
• The number of lets into the private rented sector
• Fixed penalty notices issued for littering, fly tipping and other offences
• Kilograms of total waste collected per household
• Repairs and maintenance spend
• Housing benefit and council tax support caseloads
• Business rates revenue
• Digital services take-up
• Direct debit payments
• The number of late reports not made available to democratic services
• Call volumes
• Average call duration
• Average speed of answer
• Number of callbacks
• Customer contact centre visits
• Damp inspections
• Damp, condensation and mould cases
• Household evictions
• Right to Buy sales
• New properties completed
• Complaints received
• Anti-social behaviour cases

Review of Implemented Planning Decisions

The panel was scheduled to review implemented planning decisions, with a report from Phil Norman, Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure, and Jacob Bryan, Planning Officer.

The Review of Implemented Planning Decisions detailed a tour that took place on 16 October 2025, with visits to Holbeach, Cowbit, a commercial site near Spalding, Gosberton and two sites in Donington.

According to the report, the main conclusions noted throughout the exercise, included:

• The lack of private front gardens, with parking located in front of residential units.
• A uniform approach and material finish throughout the larger schemes.
• The siting of private bin collection points in front of houses or within more prominent locations.
• Large open space, which featured a more central siting or comprised a provision that could be more easily accessible and utilised, for a specific purpose, by residents was viewed more positively than those which had open space but lacked maintenance and resulted in a somewhat unusable area. Some sites also lacked any adequate provision of open space at all.
• Some schemes appeared to have 'sloping drives', which resulted in water run-off towards the host dwellings and their associated garages or gardens.

Appendix A for the Review of Implemented Planning Decisions contained a summary of comments from the tour:

• Holbeach – Residential Scheme: Members believed that communal parking areas worked better than parking in front of the individual units and appreciated a variety of designs, in terms of designs and external materials. They noted that there were no private front gardens, poor upkeep of garden areas, a total uniformity of bricks, concerns with plumbing being visible from the outside and disliked the private drive refuse collection points.
• Cowbit – Residential Scheme: Members believed that the half and half cladding and brickwork was more suitable and visually appealing and were fans of the block paving driveways, permeable private driveways and EV charging points. They did not like the stark contrast through the black cladding at the front of the site, the refuse collection points or the utility boxes being on front elevations.
• Spalding – Commercial Site: Members believed that it was a sensible place for this type of development. They raised concerns about bollards to stop parking on the private road, the recent approval on site not being central enough for a big supermarket, the access to and from the site for vehicles and pedestrians, a sharp bend for people to turning right out onto a 60mph road and whether the site should remain within the local plan for development to be focused here.
• Gosberton – Residential Scheme: Members liked the materials used and the design of the bungalows, adequate spacing in between each plot, good landscaping and garden throughout, the parking being on the side rather in front of the bungalows and good road width. Some concerns were raised that the loose gravel would end up on the road.
• Donington – Residential Scheme: Members gave positive feedback on the open space feature in the middle of the estate, varying designs, the character of the site, the affordable homes being dotted about the estate, side parking and the inclusion of private front gardens. They were not keen on the diagonal design of the front plot, false window openings, driveways sloping backwards or the large expanse of tarmac on the private drives and thought that utility boxes would be better suited on the side of the houses rather than front.
• Donington – Residential Scheme: Members noted solar panels on lots of roofs, but a limited number per dwelling. They were not a fan of parking in front of houses, felt that it was noticeably affordable and that the central area was no use for anyone. They believed overall that it could be better and is an unattractive site, lacking any form of open space.

South Holland Centre Performance Update

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the South Holland Centre from Emily Spicer, Assistant Director - Communities and Housing Services, and Nichola Holderness, Group Manager – Community Leadership.

The South Holland Centre Performance Update stated that the centre programmes a wide range of shows, from community productions, to comedy, music and tribute shows, which can be categorised as live, live hires, community hires and film. Ticket sale trends and audience feedback is closely monitored and informs future programming choices. Current ticket sales were at 13,817, higher than at the same time in 2024, predominately due to the live programme, an increase in community hires and some popular films.

Appendix 1 for the South Holland Centre Performance Update contained a financial breakdown of the South Holland Centre 2025/26.

Performance Monitoring Panel Work Programme

The panel was scheduled to review its work programme. The Work Programme Covering Report stated that the report sets out the Work Programme of the Performance Monitoring Panel, allows the Panel to monitor its progress and identify any additional items to be added to the Programme.

Appendix 1 Work Prog PMP 10 Dec 2025 set out the dates of future panel meetings along with proposed items for consideration:

• 10 March 2026: Q3 Performance report 25/26, Housing Stock Condition Survey, Housing Landlord Service – service access report, Review of Implemented Planning Decisions
• 19 May 2026: Q4 Performance report 25/26, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, South Holland Centre update
• January 2027: Sustainable Products Policy Heather Prescott Review 18 months from 15 July 2025 PMP meeting

Appendix 2 PMP Work Programme 10 Dec 2025 set out the task groups that have been identified by the Panel.

Ongoing/future work programme items for consideration included:

• Corporate Enforcement
• The Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field Task Group
• Review of Implemented Planning Decisions
• Commercialisation

Ongoing concerns included:

• Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre Contract Task Group
• Effectiveness of CCTV Task Group