Leader of opposition of South Kesteven District Council Graham Jeal writes about spring cleaning during Easter

The Easter story is one of rebirth and renewal, and in that spirit, I like to use the glorious glut of bank holidays to tackle a bit of spring cleaning, writes Graham Jeal (Con), the leader of the opposition at South Kesteven District Council.

After all, cleanliness is next to Godliness — in a very poorly edited dictionary. As I get older, I’ve become far more ruthless. There’s something oddly liberating about marching around the house, turfing out anything that’s been sitting around gathering dust for several months. Half-finished DIY disasters? Gone. That “temporary” stack of paperwork? Shredded. No mercy.

It seems that local government is having its own version of a spring clean—with rare cross-party consensus that the days of district councils are over. There’s a bit of disagreement about where to draw the new boundaries, with good points on all sides. But the overall theme is clear: out with the old. Much like the contents of my black bin this week.

As any veteran cleaner knows, there’s a catch. Come summer, I know I will be wandering the house, looking for something I’ve accidentally chucked out—usually in a fit of overzealous tidying, or worse, because someone else “helped.” The golden rule of spring cleaning? Don’t bin something that isn’t yours.

Which brings us to the local elections—and a very real moment of danger. If you want a cautionary tale, look no further than South Kesteven. Since the last election, a patchwork of independents and minor parties has taken the reins. The result? Chaos. These councillors agree on little apart from retaining power. With no party discipline or shared principles, we’ve seen some of the worst behaviour in the country—spectacular dysfunction, endless infighting, and a bonfire of taxpayers’ money spent on disciplinary hearings and extra scrutiny.

Now, just as the spring clean of our county’s town halls reaches crunch time, we risk repeating the same mistake at the county level. It’s the civic equivalent of starting a bonfire in the garden, then Googling ‘how to put out a fire’.

At SKDC, we’ve somehow ended up with a coalition made up of hard left, hard right, and the “hard to tell what they stand for.” This is not a solid foundation for change —and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Despite being one of the largest councils in Lincolnshire by population, South Kesteven was not given a seat on the Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority.

This isn’t to say there aren’t decent independent councillors. There absolutely are, but this is a question of identity. But when it comes to reorganising how our councils run, do you really want to hand over that responsibility to a group of people whose beliefs, policies, and priorities are a complete mystery—and who often operate without the standards, scrutiny, or accountability?

We’ll all be living with the consequences of votes cast in the next few days. It’s a potential political spring clean without a plan—a great way to find yourself knee-deep in bin bags and regrets.