The Chairman and Civic Functions

The role and responsibility of the Chairman to North Kesteven District Council, as the civic and ceremonial head of the Council, is to be an ambassador representing the Council and the communities of North Kesteven which they serve.

• Working in a proactive way to ensure the authority’s aims, objectives and priorities are met and to promote good practice.
• Building connections and bringing information to the authority from experiences learned.
• Host main civic events.
• Welcome visitors to the authority’s area.
• Network within the community through stakeholders, community groups, public and the voluntary sector, to achieve mutual understanding relating to activities and projects being undertaken.
• To preside over principal meetings of the Council and to ensure that Council meetings are conducted in a professional manner and in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Local Government Act 1972 and in the Council’s Standing Orders.
• Impartially and objectively encouraging appropriate participation and offering feedback.

Currently in office at North Kesteven District Council:

• The Chairman for 2019-20 (elected 16th May 2019) – Councillor Mrs Susan Waring
• The Vice-Chairman for 2019-20 (elected 16th May 2019) – Mrs Susannah Barker-Milan

Chairman of North Kesteven District Council for the Civic Year 2019/20 is Cllr Mrs Susan Waring.

This is Cllr Waring’s second term as chairman, coming a decade after the last.

During this year she will be supporting the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, an NK-based charity which in May 2019 celebrated its 25th anniversary of life-saving service – having made 18,900 missions up to that point.

First elected in 2007, Cllr Waring is in her fourth term on the Council, and has previously served on the decision-making Executive Board. She continues as Chairman of the Council’s Audit Committee; four years and counting. She represents the Leasingham & Rauceby Ward where she has lived for many years.

Previously her late mother Doris Wallington and late step-father Keith Wallington served on the District Council over a collective 20 years. They were both police officers too, as were her grandfather and father, and her daughter and grandson James are currently police officer and inspector respectively. Her grandfather was the first chief constable to rise through the ranks in Cardiganshire and her mother the first female police officer in Cambridge.

While police service somehow passed her by, her life has been dedicated to public service. From training to be a school teacher, she gave seven years to Defence Intelligence as an intelligence analyst at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Germany and Northern Ireland; going on to be a probation officer in Boston, a child abuse investigator with Lincolnshire Social Services and engaged in business with her late husband John.

Having moved to Ruskington aged 13, Susan was educated at the Sleaford Girls High School, has lived locally for most of her life and is deeply rooted in the community, just coming to the end of a period as President of the Rotary Club of Sleaford for 2018/19.

The Chairman’s nominated charity is Lincolnshire Air Ambulance.

• This year Lincolnshire Air Ambulance celebrate 25 years of Saving Lives;
• Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance is one of the UK’s leading Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) Charities. 
• Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance are not part of the NHS and do not receive funding by the Government so can only continue to operate in our community thanks to the support  and generosity of members of the public.   I hope that the people of North Kesteven are able to support my nominated charity during my civic year.  
• Their state of the art helicopter and highly-skilled Pilots, Paramedics and Doctors give some of the most critically ill and injured people their very best chance of survival in what is often their greatest hour of need!
• Since the Charity first began in 1994, they have undertaken over 18,900 potentially life-saving missions. 

The Civic Officer is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Civic Office as follows: 

• Provides support to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman in the delivery of their civic duties in respect of managing, organising, prioritising and co-ordinating their programme of civic engagements and commitments 
  
• Acts as first point of contact receiving all requests for official engagements and liaises with other authorities and outside organisations involved. 
• Programmes and manages the Council’s civic events hosted by the Chairman annually 
• Manages the Chairman’s charity fund during the Chairman’s year of office 
• Advices the Chairman and Vice-chairman on civic protocol

If you would like to invite the chairman to an event you can do so via our online form.

If the Chairman has attended an event recently and you would like to leave feedback, you can do so on our Chairman attendance satisfaction survey.

If you would like to contact the Chairman, or invite them to an event, please do so via the Civic Office.

• Email:  Civic_Office@n-kesteven.gov.uk
• Telephone:  01529 308220

The Chairman of North Kesteven District Council has given each of her Councillor colleagues £10 and challenged them to use it to create more money for her chosen charity by the end of her term in office in April next year.

Chairman, Councillor Mrs Susan Waring says it’s a job they’ve all accepted with relish and the last time she was chairman 10 years ago she issued the same challenge and Councillors raised £4,500.

Back in 2009 the charities to benefit were the South Lincolnshire Blind Society and a group called WheelPower raising cash for wheelchairs for our paralympians. Cllr Waring travelled down to Stoke Mandeville to present the cheque.

This time the money will go to the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, and Cllr Waring says this is a great cause for North Kesteven to support.

“We live in such a rural area that if someone is involved in a road traffic accident for example and we need to get them to a specialist within the ‘golden hour’ to save their life the only way we can do this is with the air ambulance.

“The Councillors understand this and have agreed to maximise the £10 each that I have given all 42 of them and if any group or organisation wants to join in and help I will happily give them the same cash as a head start,” said Cllr Waring.

The last time she ran the scheme Councillors used their entrepreneurial skills to build their cash by things including buying chickens and then selling the eggs, organising a duck race, running coffee mornings and quiz nights and buying fruit and converting it into jam that was then sold.

“The sky is the limit with this one and because nobody knows when they or someone close to them will need the air ambulance I think groups other than Councillors might want to join our challenge. Anyone interested should contact Clare Richardson on civic_office@n-kesteven.gov.uk“, said Councillor Mrs Waring.